Emerald
by MugiwaraMarimo
Summary: Zosan-no-mi said: Zosan!au: Sanji is a cook in Mihawk's mansion, where he meets a mysterious blind man named "Zoro". He was neither the Master's brother or child, gossips say. Why was this man here? [Cover art done by Zosan-no-mi]
1. Chapter 1

When Sanji Black had first read the help wanted ad in the paper he had not been expecting this. Set back in the aging and dying woods of the privately owned island was a large manor house. It kind of reminded the blond of one of those creepy horror film houses and he could just picture the raging storm clouds with their crackling thunder and brilliant lightning.

Black wooden paneling, closed shutters, a tall metal fence that ran for as far as the eye could see in each direction. Over grown and over run front yard, dead trees with sparse leaves that blew in the wind that seemed to howl with a rage over the spires of the roof. A broken dragon weather vein he could hear screeching from where he stood. None of it was inviting in the slightest. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought it abandoned. Maybe it was.

Suddenly he wasn't sure he wanted the job anymore, but he never backed down from anything, so he swallowed down the bit of fear that had crept up his throat, pushed his hair back over his right eye and took a deep breath. His dress shoes clacked way too loud along the stone walk, muffled only by the dead grass that rose through the cracks. He went up the steps slowly, afraid that the creaks and groans may have been a warning from them before breaking under his slim weight, then he reached out and grasped the door knocker.

Who even had one of those these days? The large eagle gargoyle type creature stared back at him with tarnished eyes as his held the silver ring between shaky fingers before dropping it and hearing the sound echo upon the other side of the door. Shuffling from one foot to the other, he bit back the urge to grasp for a cigarette, instead biting at his lip and pulling it into his mouth.

After what seemed like eternity, the door shook and creaked open, revealing a female, ear buds in her ears as she lazily blew a large pink bubble at him. "Can I help you?" Fingers twirled in just as bright pink hair, pulling one bud from her ears and dropping it against a too big sweat shirt.

"Is...is this the Dracule Manor? I am here about the ad in the paper looking for a private chef?" Sanji wasn't sure if he was even in the right spot at this point. Why would such a lovely young creature live here of all places? Her large black make-uped eyes searched him up and down carefully, hungrily and he had never felt so naked in one of his suits before.

Then she shrugged, chewing loudly on her gum and stepped back, opening the door further. Her knee high red boots thunked softly on the dark plush carpet, slamming the large door behind Sanji after he had entered. "Do you have more things?" She asked, uninterested.

"N-No, I don't," Sanji gazed about the large open foyer, two sets of black marble stairs circling the edges of the room, a long hallway between them looking like some sort of open maw, inviting him to his doom.

The girl walked towards the right set of stairs, waving casually down the hall. "You will find him in his office. Third door on the right. Good luck cutie," she gave a wink, then popped her ear bud back into her ear and was off up the stairs with out another thought to the conversation.

Sanji was left standing there collecting his nerves and trying to figure out just what kind of other world he had walked into. Pulling out his phone, he frowned, seeing he had no service, but there was a wif-fi option, setting it to silent and moving down the hall. _Third door on the right. Third door on the right._ He repeated the phrase as he counted the few doors, setting his small suitcase off to the side as he came to the door as had been directed.

In bright gold lettering the words, _Dracule Mihawk_ stood out against the black stained wooden door. Hesitating for only a second, he knocked on the door, jumping from nerves when a deep voice spoke for him to enter. The room on the other side was darkened by long thick dark red curtains covering the tall windows, the only light, a small lamp that sat on the corner of the large desk in the center of the room.

Behind the desk sat an older man, well older by Sanji's standards, with well groomed features and piercing gold eyes. Picking up a half full glass, that Sanji could only assume was a red wine from the shape of the item, he took a small sip and leaned back in his chair. "You must be Mister Black?"

"Yes," He spoke confidently despite how much he seemed to be shaking. His palms were sweaty and his throat felt tight, but he nodded anyways. "Please, though, call me Sanji."

"Very well, Sanji," Setting the glass down, the man stood. "I am Dracule Mihawk, but I assume you knew that already. I am glad to have you join my staff. I know a bit of the man you studied under for your culinary and if you cook half as well as Zeff Baratie, then I will be more than pleased."

Silently the man moved towards a bookshelf on the other side of the room, picking up a set of keys and a thin stack of papers. Sanji watched quietly, hands folded behind his back, fingers gripped together tightly. "Here are your keys. To the house, the kitchen, the wine cellars, store rooms; every thing you require access to, will be here. These," he shuffled the papers slightly. "Are the terms of your employment and I would like them back by the end of the week." Handing them both to Sanji, Dracule moved back to the desk, scribbling something on a piece of paper before reaching that out to him as well. "The wifi password."

"Thank you," With a curt nod, he took the slip of paper, pocketing it and standing awkwardly for more instruction as the man went back to his work. He was content to ignore Sanji till he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. The man raised an annoyed eyebrow at him as he looked up. "My room, sir? Where would you like me to put my things?"

"Ah, yes," He nodded, picked up his desk phone, punching in a number and waiting for an answer. "Trafalgar," he said firmly. "The chef has arrived. The corridor, yes, excellent. Thank you." Setting the phone down, Dracule Mihawk, Sanji's new boss, gazed up at him uninterested. "My doctor, Law, will meet you back by the front door. He will do a fast check up and physical then will show you to your room. I look forwards to your first meal Mister Black."

"Of course," Turning on his heel, Sanji had never been so thankful to leave a room. Grabbing at his things as the door clicked shut behind him, the blond made his way back towards the front door, loosening his tie and exhaling in relief. Why that man made him so nervous right then...he hoped it was just because it was formal introductions and he would get over it soon enough. Stuffing the keys into a pocket, he folded his papers in half, filing them away in his inside breast pocket for the time being, coming back to the stairs to wait for the doctor.

What kind of man was this Dracule Mihawk anyways? He had heard he was the heir to a rich family, shrouded in secrets and lies, killing off one another till only he remained. Was that why the carpets were an almost black red? Picking up his foot to inspect the sole for imaginary blood, a tap on the shoulder made him jump and he spun to glare at the person as a low chuckle sounded.

"Sanji Black is it?" The man was thumbing through a phone, before he nodded and looked up to him, eyes rimmed in black eyeliner, much like the girl's had been. Did everyone around here wear make up? What had he gotten into? "My name is Trafalgar Law, I am Master Mihawk's physician."

The chef could only nod dumbly as the doctor turned down a hall he had missed before. Sanji was thankful that the curtains were at least pulled back here, letting in what little sunlight there was as they padded silently down the carpeted hall. He reached out to touch one, feeling the soft velvet under his fingers. "I know what you're thinking-ya?" Law spoke in a deep raspy voice, as if he only talked when he needed to do so. "It's really not that bad here. Most of the time we are free to do as we like. He keeps to himself."

"He?" The blond questioned before it hit him. "Oh, you mean Mihawk?"

"Master Mihawk. I suggest not making that mistake in front of him. He is a kind man, but has a bit of a temper at times as well. He likes his formality as well. Do remember that-ya?"

"Okay," Sanji mumbled as Law swung into a brightly lit white room. It completely reminded Sanji of a clinic back in the city and he wondered for a moment if maybe that's where this man worked before he came here. Again he set down his things, waiting for what was going to happen.

"I will need a sample of your blood." Trafalgar spoke calmly as he moved about the room, shuffling some papers, washing his hands and finding some rubber gloves. He wrote something down on the papers before snapping on the gloves and turning to the chef.

"What for?" Already Sanji was shedding his jacket, not wanting to argue with the man, but wanting to know what was going on just the same.

"I do it with everyone. I keep some blood stored here. Master Mihawk likes to be well prepared if there is ever a serious accident."

"He doesn't get out much does he?"

"Sit up here would you please-ya?" Law patted the examine table in the middle of the room, but shook his head. "Actually he is gone most of time, that's why he makes these precautions. If something happens while he is away, we are able to fix most things here on the island."

"I don't understand," Frowning, Sanji stared off as he numbly rolled his shirt sleeve up past his elbow. He watched for a moment as the doctor prepped his arm for taking the blood, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "If he is gone most of the time, why hire a staff?"

He didn't get an answer and instead the rest of his visit with Law was done in silence, the only conversation being when Law asked a question pertaining to his health, before the doctor kicked him out to fend for himself in the house. Didn't even bother to show him to his room like Master Mihawk had said he would. Sanji had no idea where to do or what to do, so he eventually found his way to the front hall again, hoping for something, _anything_ that may help him learn his way around here. The people he had encountered so far were friendly enough, in a weird ass cryptic sort of way, but none of them were good on giving him any type of help or directions.

Setting his suit jacket and belongings at the bottom of the stairs, he sat down on the cool marble and fished out the the wifi pass code. The blond punched it in when prompted, shock and delight crossing his pale features when a confirmation of an app appeared on his screen. For the untalkative guy that he was, Mihawk had thought of everything, including this nifty little GPS app of the manor.

He only got turned around once, but finally Sanji made it to the large stocked kitchen. He would have some work to do here though because despite the full shelves and walk ins, nothing looked like it had been used in a long long time. There was dust everywhere! The floors looked like they needed to be mopped, the counters washed. There was a stack of dishes near the dishwasher and a nice fillet knife sitting in a pool of water. With a sigh and a hand through his hair, Sanji moved towards what appeared to be a dry store room in hopes of some sort of cleaning supplies.

The whining creak and slam of a door stopped him in his tracks and he turned to see an open door off towards the far back corner of the room. Could those be the wine cellars? Mihawk had mentioned that. Walking over carefully, Sanji could feel the cool air rolling out into the room and smell the dampness of mold and dirt as he peered over the lip and down the stairs. "Hello?" He called out tentatively, not wanting to startle who ever could be down there. There came another rattle, of glass this time, with a low curse and Sanji trotted down the wooden stairs to investigate.

The size of the bricked room got his attention first, with several doors leading off into other rooms as well. Dates seemed to be written in a fancy script along aged papers, tall black metal racks filled with bottles and barrels in between each set of doors in the hexagonal room, muted reds and browns making the one light over head dimmer than it really was. The floor was dirt and the obvious source of the smell as he stepped off the last wooden stair, looking at each of the slips of paper.

Four of the six doors had dates, like Sanji had expected. A fifth door, which was actually the third apparently, if he was to go by the small gold number in the center of the frame, had a single word written flawlessly in elegant cursive: _Roronoa._

Reaching out, he tried the handle, not truly surprised when he found it locked. Turning around with a sigh, he noticed a light on in the room across the small open space from him, the last of the rooms, the doorway hidden under the stairs. This door was just like the others, the numbers a range of about thirty years, good years too, if Sanji knew anything about wines. And he did. So why was this door open and this light on? Who was possibly down here? If no one, why had whoever been here left the light on? Was he going to have to deal with thieves in his new place of employment?

All the questions fell away though as Sanji caught sight of the cause of the racket down here. A man stood in the middle of the small room with his back to the chef, shoulders tensed as he seemed to be wrestling with something in his hands. With a sigh, a hand ran through short cropped green hair, jingling three golden earrings in his left ear, before the hand went to his hip.

Dressed in what Sanji could only describe as a coat, the long dark green material falling to just above his knees, he noticed black pants and boots. Thick and tanned fingers tapped against a deep red sash around his waist and the blond gulped at the width of the man's shoulders. He moved then, this man did, tilting his head to the side and back slightly before he spoke. His voice was deep and husky, sounding a little raw like he hadn't drank anything in a long time. "Who are you?"

"M-me?" Sanji stuttered as the man turned, gaze seeming to lock with his as the blond's eyes widened. It was hard to determine which feature stuck out more to him, the scar over his left eye that sealed it shut or the pure white right eye that seemed to bore unseeing into Sanji's core. Small shadows from tufted bangs fell across his face from the single bulb light over head, casting long trails over his nose and cheekbones, darkening his eyes just enough to portray an air of ferocity Sanji wasn't sure he wanted to entangle with.

The man snorted. "I can only smell one of you, so yes; you." In his hands, Sanji could clearly see a type of alcohol bottle now. A long thin clear bottle with a clear liquid inside it. That was no wine that he knew of and he cast a small glance to the shelves before the man's words caught up to him.

"Smell?" Sanji barked. He most certainly did not smell. He bathed every damned day. More than he could say from the looks of this man.

The man hummed in thought, before he nodded, a small chime of his earrings as he did so. "Yes, smell. I will remember you now."

Sanji wasn't sure what he meant by that, but decided it was better to leave it for now. The people on this island were of a weird bunch. Well the one's he had encountered so far at any rate. "Would you like me to open that?" He asked pointing towards the bottle.

"You think I can't? Is that it?" The man clutched the bottle to his bare chest, the front of the jacket wide open and displaying nothing but hard packed muscles under more tanned skin. Under his fingers he could see a long jagged scar running the cross length of his chest, dipping from his left shoulder towards his right hip. Sanji swallowed again, merely shaking his head. With a grunt the man went back to trying to open the bottle, shrugging as he gave up, jamming the cork into his mouth and ripping it out with his teeth before spitting it to the ground.

Sanji watched in horror at the action, but the man seemed satisfied as he pulled the bottle from his mouth, wiping the back of a hand across it before jerking his head in Sanji's general direction. "If you are not going to give me a name, at least get out of my way."

Mouth open in shock, Sanji stepped aside, letting the man pass and he stalked up the stairs, only tripping over himself once as he muttered curses under his breath. Sanji watched him go, beyond himself at who this man was and what types of people seemed to be able to move free about the large manor house.

Maybe the rumors were true after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Sanji spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening cleaning the kitchen till it was to his standards. He took an inventory of the pantry, walk-in fridge and freezer, making a short list of items that he still needed or would have just liked to have on hand. Tired and weary, he fell down onto a stool, leaning forwards as he ran damp hands through his hair with a deep sigh.

"Whoa, Bro, you look like shit!" The new voice and the smack of bare feet on his newly mopped floors made him grind his teeth as the blond's head snapped up to see who was in the kitchen. He wouldn't call it his kitchen, not yet. "You must be the cook! Ah man, that's great!"

There was an obnoxious red and yellow flower print Hawaiian shirt and Sanji closed his eyes, rolling them behind his lids at the fact it wasn't even buttoned. And let's not even go there about the fact he wasn't wearing pants. The horrendous black speed-o doing nothing to help the outfit, if it could be called that, in the slightest. "And you are?" Sanji tried to bite back the sarcasm, but as the large man walked loudly to a smaller fridge and pulled out a bottle of soda, he was sure he failed. Sanji did have to admit though, the star tattoos were kinda cool.

The man laughed, running a hand through moosed blue hair. "Name's Cuttey Flam, but everyone calls me Franky. I'm the grounds keeper and mechanic."

"Some job you're doing with the front." Sanji rolled his eyes, jerking a hand in what he thought would be the general direction of the front of the large house. "Name's Sanji."

"Master Mihawk wants the front to look like that, you should see the back. And the rest of this miserable house." Franky waved a hand casually through the air. "I love her, but she's a lot of work!"

Sanji kept quiet, he really didn't have a lot to say to this new comer and he was tired. Too many strange people, weird encounters and hard labor for one day. Franky didn't seem to care in the slightest though. "So," he asked, setting his soda bottle on the stainless steel table top with a clink and pulling another stool out to sit on. "After cleaning the pool I'm starving! What's for dinner Sanji-Bro?"

"Please don't call me that." Sanji mumbled into his hands, cracking them so he could look to the man sitting across from him. "And I don't know. I don't even know how many people to cook for. You make five that I am aware of in this place."

"Five?" The large man jerked his head back. "Dude, you make eight." He gave a loud laugh, the annoying noise ringing about the open kitchen. "It will usually be seven though." He gave a long sigh before picking up his drink again. "Like tonight. Only need to cook for seven."

"I am not going to not cook for someone. If they are here, they will eat."

"They did," Franky sounded annoyed as he spoke, but then grinned broadly as he got up. "Anything but fish man would be super! Catch ya later Sanji-Bro!" And he walked out, leaving the blond chef to his own questions.

For starters, the two at the forefront of his mind were why were only seven of the supposed eight people eating and why no fish? That didn't make any sense. Maybe because they lived on a lake, they ate a lot of it? Yes, that had to be it. So, then, what...pork? Beef? Chicken was too close to fish in a lot of ways, being a white meat and so was pork...okay, beef it was. A little red meat never hurt anyone. Besides, just thinking about it was making Sanji's mouth water.

Getting up off his stool, Sanji headed back for the walk in to once again survey what he had. Not because he didn't know at this point, but because menu planning off the top of your head was difficult sometimes, especially when you had no idea what anyone's taste was beyond one person saying no fish and having tons of red wines. Visual aids were a requirement tonight. He was going to have to make menu plans, that much was for sure. Lots of work ahead of him still.

The cool air of the walk-in smacked him in the face, almost literally as the blower was turned towards the door so that who ever entered got blasted with cold air right off. It mussed up his hair, but he ignored it in favor of crossing his arms and eying the crates, baskets and metal containers of meats, fruits and vegetables. For there only being seven, well now eight, people here, Sanji still couldn't get over how well stocked this place was! But, ironically, there was no fish to be seen.

Several things seemed off to the blond but only having been here a few hours it made sense. The standoffish vibe he got from both Master Mihawk and the girl made him wonder if she was related to him in some way. She most certainly didn't act like she worked here. Then there was the doctor, Law. He had all but pushed Sanji out of his office and lab, but he also seemed very focused on the blood samples he had gotten, so Sanji supposed that made sense as well.

The strange drunk in the basement had to of been the most bizarre of them though, even weirder than Franky, who besides Mihawk had held any real type of conversation with him. Everyone here seemed very dismissive though and it was already getting on the chef's nerves. The man's words came back to him though, his comment on being able to smell him and Sanji wondered if he may have blind his whole life, or at least a very long time.

He had heard that other senses became sharper when one was lost, but it also could have just been the drunk ramblings of an alcoholic, which from the way he had staggered from the room and tripped up the stairs, was the most likely answer. He wondered if he would be able to buy a lock for the door to the wine cellar. That would make the man sober up pretty damned quick!

Deciding on some nice thick steaks, with broccoli and asparagus and probably some rice pilaf, Sanji exited the walk-in long enough to retrieve a pan for the steaks and a bowl for the vegetables. Well, a large stainer actually, balancing everything with practiced ease as he made his way to the prep sinks to set the strainer down before moving towards the grill section of his stove set.

Besides his time working under Zeff, Sanji had never been in a kitchen like this before and it was all his now. He was the head chef, the only chef, but that was simply a fine detail, and everything that came from here was going to be a masterful perfection of his own creation.

So he set to work, washing his hands, seasoning the meat, lighting and heating his grill racks, washing and chopping the greens for steaming, finding and preparing the rice dish. Satisfied that everything was set to cook, Sanji decided now would be time for a quick smoke break and made his way to the door he had discovered that led out to the back gardens. Propping open the metal door, he pushed through the screen door and stepped out onto the small patio, pulling his smokes from his pocket and lighting one easily.

He was closed in on three sides with vine covered walls, the house wall being the forth, the vibrant greens and small purple flowers looking so out of place compared to the dead front yard. Franky had been right, so far the gardens were incredible and he hadn't even set foot in them yet. Under his feet were laid stone slabs, large chunks of multicolored slate, with small white gravel between. Not a single blade of grass poked through either. Off to his left was a small metal table with three metal chairs. They were painted black and well taken care of from the looks of them, so he made his way over to them to sit as he smoked.

The pressure came off his feet instantly and he groaned in bliss, throwing his legs up onto the seat of one of the other chairs, grinning around the butt as he sucked in another drag, leaning back and exhaling with a sigh. Okay, he could get used to this if his domain was going to lead to such a peaceful environment. He would have to get a butt can for out here though, not wanting to start dropping them wherever he put them out.

The air was warm, even for being so late in the evening and Sanji really did wonder about the vast contrast of this side of the house verses the front. It was like he walked through some sort of portal to another world. After breakfast tomorrow, in the light he would have to go exploring the gardens. Maybe he could ask Franky if he could cut some flowers for the girl he saw earlier. A small gathering of them to place on the table in the large dinning room would lighten things up just enough. So far everything was so dark and dreary, it was depressing.

A loud wet smash broke him from his dream and Sanji jumped to his feet at the barked curse, both chairs scraping across the stone loudly. Rolling the cigarette across his lip with his tongue, the blond ducked through the small doorway, moving aside some stray vines and stepped out onto another patio, this one larger, but also banked by the same vine and wall, effectively boxing him into an open ceiling room. And standing in the middle of the room was none other than the earlier mentioned drunk. "Ah, it's you," the man spoke calmly, frowning as he moved both arms to his hips.

"I have a name," Sanji said as he frowned as well, looking to the man's feet and the broken bottle he had taken earlier. The clear liquid had splashed against his boots, the shine catching the last few rays of light out in the quickly dimming evening.

The man grunted, shaking his head. "Don't care, Cook." Crouching down, Sanji watched, actually quite amazed, at how easily he began picking up the shards of glass with nimble fingers.

"You shouldn't..." He bit off his sentence as the man snapped his head up, once again that pure white eye seeming to focus in right on his location. With a swallow, he sucked in a drag off the smoke, the green haired man wrinkling his nose at the smell.

"I can do it. You smoke as a cook? Doesn't that dull your pallet?" The deep voice wasn't mocking, which for some reason struck Sanji as odd, but was instead poising a purposeful question and the blond found himself nodding in agreement.

"It can, but I work around it." The man grunted in response, which he seemed to do quite a bit, Sanji was beginning to notice, turning his attention back to the pieces of glass at his feet.

"Oh, there you are." The tone of a female voice caught Sanji off guard but the green haired man stood instantly, dropping the glass he had piled in his hand and wiped them off on his coat, turning his head in the general direction of the voice. "What happened?"

"I dropped it," The man mumbled quietly as the pink haired girl from before appeared from the same direction Sanji had come from. She brushed past him, moving to the other man and wrapping her arms around his, dropping her head onto his shoulder. The chef watched as the large man tensed under the small girl, but let her hang off him as he sighed and swung his face towards her. "I'm sorry."

"You're so cute," she gave a giggle as she pressed a kiss to his cheek near his scarred eye. "Just don't be trying to clean it up. Remember what happened last time." She smiled at him as he hummed back, seeming to lose himself in some memory before she tugged on his arm. "Come on, let's go. Franky told me he had to clean the pool again, so I ran you a bath." Frowning as she spoke, she started back the way she had come towards the house.

"You didn't have to," Despite walking with her, Sanji could see the man didn't really want to go with her, but did so anyways as the two moved from where the three were standing back towards the kitchen, ignoring him like he wasn't even there. There were hushed words between them as they walked arm in arm, his shoulders rigid and square, a vast contrast to hers as her pigtails bounced easily. The spring of the screen door sounded and the man grunted again. "Oi, Cook,"

"Yeah?" Sanji bit his cheek from barking out anything more. For whatever reason the girl seemed to have a soft spot for the drunk and until he knew more, he was pretty sure he would be doing that a lot.

"Clean that glass up and check the food. I can smell those steaks burning." He barked out a laugh and the screen door slammed shut, the girl's scolding of the man lost to Sanji as the words registered.

"Shit!" He darted through the archway and opened the door, dashing over to check on the steaks that were perfectly fine. As well as the rice and the water for the vegetables. "That bastard!" He stomped his foot, grinding his cigarette between his teeth. His cigarette! In his panic, the blond didn't even put it out before coming in here and he pulled the butt from his mouth, smashing it into some water left in the bottom of the sink before throwing it in the trash and washing his hands.

What sort of sick cruel joke had that been? Who in there right mind tells a chef their food is burning in jest like that? He had just crossed so many kitchen and culinary rules by bringing that smoke in here like that! Sanji shook his head, taking a deep breath and leaning his forearms on the edge of the sink. And he still had dinner to plate, serve and eat with these people.

Never had he been so flustered in one day in all his life!

Turning back towards the grill, reaching for the metal tongs and easily turning the steaks, reveling in the sizzle that sounded as he did so, Sanji sincerely hoped for at least one _normal_ person on this island or he might just go insane! He stirred the rice, the nutty butter aroma filling the area pleasantly and turned his attention once again to the pot of water that he had set for steaming the last item to dinner.

Should he whip up a quick dessert while he was at it to? He did want to ask everyone for their likes and dislikes in hopes to start to put that menu together, so maybe over coffee and sweets? But what could he whip up quickly and easily? He could swiftly make a batch of no bake cookies, letting them cool while they all ate. Yes, that would do the trick nicely.

In no time at all it seemed, Sanji was spooning out the cookies onto wax paper across a table as the dinner meal itself came to a finish and he shifted gears to get everything plated, covered and out to the dinning room. He made eight plates despite Franky saying there was no need and set them all upon the cart he had hauled from the depths of the closet, pushing out into the dark room, the double kitchen doors swinging quietly on their hinges. He wasn't sure if he was okay with the fact he was all by himself or not as he entered the room and the blond's shoulders dropped as it hit him. He had no idea how to call everyone for dinner... Or if it was even the right time for dinner? Did they normally all just fend for themselves?

Fuck! He had just spent the last several hours making and preparing food for people who he may not even see again tonight! Pausing dead in his tracks in the middle of the room, he tried to glare a hole in the table at the thought of having to put all this amazing food in the walk in for people to heat on their own. If they even saw it for that matter.

No, there had to be some way to get everyone's attention. But what? Ah, the GPS app thing on his phone. Maybe that had a way to let everyone know it was time for dinner! Sanji was in the middle of spinning on his heel, headed back to the kitchen for his phone, when the far door to the room banged open, once again revealing the pink haired girl. Only this time she was minus the drunk green haired bastard.

"Is that dinner? Oh you cooked?!" Walking over to him and pulling the seemingly ever present ear buds from her ears, the female lifted the covers to one of the trays and hummed. "Mmm...looks really good. We haven't had steak in a long time! I bet everyone will enjoy it! Well except for cranky, but he won't really eat anything if it's not from the homelands."

Her dark eyes flicked up to Sanji's wide blue and she smiled. "I didn't introduce myself earlier. I'm Perona." Fluttering the dark lashes, Sanji found himself lost in the dark gaze. "And what's your name cutie? There have been so many people in and out the last few days, it was becoming a nightmare!" She pouted, sticking out her lower lip and crossing her arms. "So many of them were not cute too."

"M-my name? Sanji Black, but please darling, call me Sanji." Gripping the handle of the cart as tight as he could, Sanji tried to keep himself from swooning over one of his coworkers, if not his boss's family, swallowing hard as Perona pulled a small pink phone from a pocket, thumbing through it till she grinned at him. The blond just about melted inside. Working here may be harder than he originally thought!

"Shall we call everyone for dinner?"


	3. Chapter 3

Perona insisted on helping set the plates on the table, despite Sanji's constant pleas of him being able to do it on his own. She shrugged at him, blowing a bubble in her gum. "I am used to it. I'm not very good at cooking but I tend to look after..." she stopped, shaking her head, her bright curls bouncing. "Ah, well, I'm going to get a drink. Everyone should be here shortly. Come on cutie!"

Sanji was speechless. This girl, whatever her connection to the people here may be, was going about things like he wasn't even there. Granted he appreciated the help, but he didn't need such a lovely thing as herself doing it. He could do it himself or maybe Master Mihawk would be willing to hire someone to help, but with there only being eight people here, that seemed overkill, even to Sanji.

Pushing the now empty cart with him, he entered the kitchen to see Perona bite into one of the still warm cookies as she dropped her gum in a trashcan. "Oh my god! These are so good! What are they?"

"No bake cookies dear," Sanji couldn't help but grin. People enjoying his cooking was always the best type of compliment, even when it was something simple like these cookies. "I made some iced tea earlier, would that be suitable for everyone?"

She nodded, cheeks puffed full of her cookie and the blond turned, making his way to the smaller fridge that Franky had taken his drink from earlier and removing the pitcher of tea from it. "Make sure to grab a soda for Franky though!"

Sanji hesitated for only a split second as he set the item on the counter behind him. That was the first time anyone had referred to another by name around here with the exception of Mihawk. And now, too, he was beginning to notice, Perona was much more bubbly and cheerful than she had been earlier. She did say though that there had been a lot of people in and out, maybe it was just relief at finding a permanent chef. Or not having to deal with that drunk bastard.

Man, Sanji was glad she came and dragged his scruffy ass away, but she should not have had to deal with him! The entire encounter was confusing and having to deal with that man was draining. Grabbing a soda and closing the door, he was a bit shocked, but not so at the same time, to see the pink haired girl on her tip toes pulling several large glasses from a cabinet and setting them on the tray cart she had moved to her side. "Dear, please, this is the reason I was hired remember?"

"I'm just so used to doing it," she frowned as she set the last of the six glasses down quietly. "Well, I didn't cook a lot, mostly looking after him, but..." she trailed off again, giving the blond a bright smile. "I bet the others have come now, let's go! I will introduce you to everyone!"

"That would be great," Sanji smiled back, placing the items he held on the cart and following the girl into the large dinning room. Mihawk was already sitting at the head of the table, a half full wine glass in hand as he listened to what a paper shuffling Law was saying. Perona instantly left Sanji to move to sit next to the older man, who cast her a glance before returning to the doctor.

The golden eyes peered at the other man with interest as he took a sip of his wine. "And the results?"

"I won't have them till tomorrow-ya." Law spoke calmly, his voice somehow soothing as Perona smacked a palm to her chin and sighed as she watched him with interest. "Sanji's blood is rare."

"What about me?" The words came out before he could stop them and Law turned around in his seat as the Manor Master turned his head to raise an eyebrow at him. "Sorry," he mumbled, pouring a glass of the iced tea and setting it in front of the dark haired doctor.

Wrinkling his nose at it, Law picked it up and took a cautious sip before setting it back down and picking up a pen, going back to his papers. "That's alright," Mihawk spoke as he watched Sanji continue to pour more drinks for the other places at the table, setting Franky's bottle down awkwardly in the middle of the table, not sure of where to put it. "It pertains to you, you have the right to know."

"Unfortunately, none of us will know till tomorrow-ya," Gathering the papers and smacking them on the table top into a neat pile, the doctor set them aside and leaned back in his chair, adjusting his hat and folding his hands in his lap. "Where is everyone?"

"I put Cranky to bed," Perona frowned as Sanji set the last glass down in front of her and pushed the cart off to the side. "Sit here with me Sanji!" She grasped at his arm, almost pulling him down into the table before he caught himself and slid into the plush high backed chair quietly, setting the nearly empty iced tea pitcher in the center. "He won't stay there though, he was drinking again."

"He does what he wants," Mihawk spoke firmly, gaze snapping up to the far doors as they banged open. With a sigh, he picked up his glass and Sanji was pretty sure he began gulping it down.

"Super!" Franky's loud voice echoed across the room. "What did you make in the end Sanji?"

"Uh..." Words failed him as he caught sight of the woman chuckling lightly, her arm in the crook of the large man's elbow. "Steaks, I made steaks." He stood as the two separated and sat down, the blue haired man snatching his bottle and leaning back in the chair. At least he had shorts on now.

"Meet Miss Nico," Mihawk spoke before the blond could even get the question out. "She is a historian."

"Indeed," The woman replied coolly, blue eyes meeting Sanji's own and he felt his face heat up under that gaze, plunking back down in his seat quickly. "Please, Sanji, call me Robin. Franky has informed me that you are our new chef."

"Y-yes, my dear, I am." He nodded with a swallow, hands balling into fists in his lap as her gaze never shifted and he suddenly felt very uncomfortable under her watchful eyes.

"She is very good at what she does," The golden eyed man mused quietly.

"Whoa man," Franky set the bottle down on the table, leaning out around Robin and raising an eyebrow at him. His sunglasses caught the light and Sanji moved his eyes to him over the woman. "Hands off bro,"

"What?" The word came out awkwardly as the blond titled his head slightly.

"Robin is Franky's wife," Perona hissed into his ear not to quietly either and Sanji sat back in his chair with a thump as Law chuckled at him, his own dark piercing gaze transfixed on him. Mihawk seemed to be ignoring everyone, content to drink his wine and watch.

"What?!" Sanji barked, slamming a hand over his mouth as his eyes went wide. The blond had a feeling meal times around here were going to be hectic. And not everyone was even here.

Robin giggled behind a hand as Franky frowned. "Yeah, we get that a lot. Not cool man."

Sanji went to open his mouth to come up with some sorry of reason for his outburst. He hadn't meant it in the way it came out, he was just simply shocked that the two were together, when Mihawk cleared his throat. "Where is..." The man started, brow furrowing as the kitchen doors slammed open this time to reveal another man. Boots covered in mud and Sanji bit his tongue thinking that he was going to have to clean up in there again cause he just trekked through his clean kitchen!

"I'm here!" The man was shaking slightly, swallowing and eyes wide from under a massive amount of loosely pulled back curly black hair. "The kitchen smells horrible! It took me a second to get over the smell!" He wiped what Sanji could clearly see were muck covered hands on even dirtier baggy pants, the frayed suspenders barely doing their job of keeping them in place as he shifted the strap of his bag over his head and dropped it by the door, coming to sit by Law. The doctor simply raised an eyebrow at him before shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

"Yay! We can eat now!" Perona dived upon her covered plate, all but throwing the lid in front of her and grabbing up her utensils faster than Sanji had seen in a long time. "Some one who is a better cook than me! And it's not fish! Oh I could kiss you Sanji!"

Sanji choked on the mouthful of tea he was trying to drink, it going up his nose and stinging the inside of it as he swallowed what he could. He shuffled, clearing his throat and set his glass down quickly. "Thank you my dear." His voice cracked as he coughed, the clangs of the other lids being removed ringing about the room.

"Hm," Mihawk spoke calmly, picking up his knife. "This looks delicious indeed. Excellent work Mister Black."

"Oh no!" The curly haired man slammed the lid back over his food, both hands holding onto the tray cover as he shook. He acted as if the food underneath was about to jump up and attack him. "It's on my plate! How am I supposed to eat?!"

"Give it here, ya." Law leaned over and pulled the tray towards him, lifting the cover and stabbing at the steak. "It's just beef Usopp-ya. It won't hurt you."

"But it's _meat _Law!" The man, Usopp, snatched his plate back as soon as the perfect piece of steak was off his plate and Sanji watched wide eyed in horror as the doctor set it in the top of one of the discarded lids before moving back to his own food.

"Give it here Bro!" Franky's voice rang out and without even looking, Law slid the cover down in his direction where Robin caught it and handed it over to her practically drooling husband. "You want some babe?"

"I'm fine, thank you Franky." She said, a small content smile forming on her features.

"Are we all settled in now?" Mihawk spoke up, looking around at everyone in turn, receiving several nods and a couple hums from full mouths of food. "Okay then," he set his fork down, crossing his hands in his lap. "This is Sanji Black, our new chef. I would like everyone to make a list of likes and dislikes and hand them to him by breakfast. I would not like a repeat of Usopp's performance just now."

"Sorry," he muttered, sinking into his chair. "I just can't handle meat."

"We know Usopp. Chill Bro, it's not a big deal, Sanji didn't know." Franky spoke up from farther down the table, leaning out again to look at the flabbergasted blond. "Usopp here is a vegetarian."

"Oh," Sanji nodded sharply. "I'm sorry! It wont happen again. I didn't know."

"Relax, Sanji," Master Mihawk spoke quietly. "That is why I asked them to compile lists for you. I should have had them do it before now, but as of late we have mostly been fending for ourselves. Perona, you will take care of..."

"Yes," Perona nodded sharply, hair bouncing as she did so. "Nothing with change there, I can assure you."

"Very well," he tapped the edge of his glass and took a breath. "For breakfast and from now on, arranging things buffet style so everyone can choose from your menu layout for the meal, will be best Sanji." The chef nodded quickly, liking that idea very much himself. "I will be leaving after breakfast in the morning. Something came up that I must attend to instantly. Franky if you could drive me to the airport that would be greatly appreciated."

"Yes Master Mihawk," The words sounded strange coming from the large man as he bobbed his head and went back to eating. It was Robin though, who set her fork down and turned towards the head of the table, her deep blue eyes wide and questioning.

"What happened?"

"Ruby." The single word hushed the entire room, several heads swinging in shock towards the man before dropping to their plates and continuing to eat. Sanji didn't know what to think of that. What was so important about a ruby anyways? Did some one steal it? "Don't tell Zoro until I return. It won't help him any. And if something really did happen, I think it wise for me to tell him."

"Okay," Perona mumbled as she pulled a piece of steak from her fork. Everyone looked so defeated all of a sudden and from a simple word! So much for hoping to find the normal one of the group. It looked to Sanji like he was it!

The rest of dinner passed quietly, the only words spoken being from the house residents as they quietly mumbled thanks before stacking their plates on the cart and moving out of the room to carry on with their own business. Whatever this ruby was, it was of grave importance to the people of this house. Sanji was curious, but didn't ask, feeling if they wanted him to know, they would tell him. Robin excused herself first, claiming to need to return to the library for research and Franky went with her, the smack of his feet dulled by the carpeting that seemed to be everywhere.

Usopp jumped up and almost ran for his bag, saying he needed to get back to the gardens but was going to take the long way around. Law simply left, his dark glare casting about the room as he gathered his papers and walked out. Lastly, Mihawk asked to speak with Perona and the two left the poor confused cook to his own devices of cleaning and preparing for a breakfast he wasn't sure how to make in the morning.

Dragging the cart with him, Sanji washed his hands and quickly put away the forgotten cookies, boxing them in a plastic container with a label and setting them aside. Could always use them as snacks through out the next few days as well.

He was thankful for the dishwasher, setting up the two trays, starting the first and moving to the patio again for a cigarette. He brought a metal can he found from the recycling and set it in the corner behind the table to use for his cigarette butts. It was completely dark now, the only noises that of crickets and some where far off came the hoot of an owl. The wind had died down and it was relatively peaceful actually.

That was until he heard the kitchen doors slam open and the rattle of a table. Jumping to his feet, Sanji threw the butt into the can and stomped his way back inside, throwing open the screen door and taking a deep breath to sling profanity at whoever it was who dared enter the kitchen at this time of night. The air left his lungs as he tilted his head to the side at the empty room. The blond knew he had heard something, but now there was nothing. No evidence that anyone had entered besides him.

The dishwasher came to a rattling stop and the chef walked over to it, switching out the two trays of dishes and turning towards the walk in. The least he could do would be to make some sort of fruit salad for Usopp, the poor guy. Sanji really wished someone had at least told him there was non meat eating people here. He had to make it up to him somehow.

Turning on his heel again, Sanji stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of the wine cellar door open again. He knew he had shut it earlier but now it was wide open like he had never touched it. Anger overriding his curiosity as to why the door was open again, he stalked over, going to slam it shut when he saw the light on. Hand on the switch to flick it, he heard a door creak and close with a soft click.

So, someone was down there. They better hope they had good reason, so help him if it was that drunk again! Perona had mentioned that he wouldn't stay where she had put him. It would figure he would return to the one place he could enable his bad habits. The blond was quiet as he snuck down the stairs in hopes of catching who ever this was off guard and hope fully scaring the piss outta them for good measure. Part of him wanted it to be the blind bastard.

It came as a shock, Sanji standing in the middle of the dirt floored room, that all the doors were closed and locked as he had left them. He tried. The only one he didn't have a key to was the one labeled _Roronoa_ but that was still locked as well. No one had been in the other ones. All the lights off and nothing missing, or so it looked like from his quick peaks.

Some one had opened that door and turned on the light, but if no one was down here, then who? Now he was hearing things. What in the hell was going on around here? He had a lot to learn about his new place of employment and it's secrets. Sanji only hoped he would be let in on some of them. Knowing what was going on around here would help if something ever happened.

Frowning, he turned, clomping back up the rickety wooden steps and turning off the light. Maybe he was just overtired and had left the light on and the door open. It was quite possible, it had been a very long day. Walking back to the dishwasher, opening it as he strode past towards the walk in, frowning at Usopp's mud trail, Sanji decided that had to have been what happened.

It still didn't explain the kitchen doors and the table though.


	4. Chapter 4

Sanji woke to several emails from the various people of the house. The only one who didn't send one was the drunk, Zoro, Master Mihawk had called him. What kinda name was that anyways? Reading over them quickly the blond was easily able to throw together an amazing breakfast and it went off with out much hassle at all.

No one even seemed to care that the green haired man was missing and when he inquired as to where he was, everyone looked from one to the other and finally Usopp shrugged and Perona said he was most likely still sleeping. He also asked about his lab work to which Law coldly replied that it still wasn't done and once he had finished his bacon, he quickly set his plate on the cart and rushed from the room.

Mihawk and the grounds keeper left together, Robin soon after, heading to her library, where she apparently spent much of her time. Usopp scarfed down his fruit salad faster than Sanji had ever seen anyone before and jumped up, rushing through the kitchen towards the gardens, leaving him and Perona to finish off the meal quietly.

Sanji was actually thankful when she excused herself, and left, leaving him to tend to the clean up on his own. And as much as he didn't want to, he was a chef, so he made a plate of various left over and stuffed it in the small fridge for the weird blind man.

With a sigh and a smoke behind him, Sanji decided to take the next couple hours before lunch to familiarize himself with his new surroundings and left the dinning room to wander the halls. Making his way up the stairs Sanji knew hanging a left would being him towards the bedrooms. A whole wing for them! So instead he hung a right, raising an eyebrow at the first cracked door he came to. He caught sight of what looked to be a bookshelf, so the blond pressed a hand flush against the door and pushed. It opened silently to reveal a large high vaulted ceiling, bookshelves built directly into the walls ceiling to floor. In some places, Sanji even saw small balconies and second floors where small sitting areas had been arranged.

Near where he stood was a large desk, very similar to the one in Mihawk's office, a large green leather bound book resting on the clean surface. This struck him as odd and he walked over, foot steps muffled by the soft plush carpet. The book was obviously old, frayed and cracked edges, with what appeared to be real gold flecked lettering across the top. This wasn't what caught the blond's attention though, the set golden letters that spelled out _Roronoa_ made him run his hand over the smooth binding and hook his fingers under the edge of the top cover.

Just as he was about to lift it, a hand slammed onto the book and Sanji jumped back, snapping his head up and peering into the hardened glare of Robin. "What do you think you are doing?" She demanded of him and he didn't even realize he had taken a step back till his knees hit the edge of the chair Sanji had skirted around to get to the book. He fell into it, gripping at the arms with his fingers.

"I'm sorry," The chef was fumbling for words, the librarian's harsh look sending chills down his spine. "It has the same name as the room in the wine cellar. I just thought that maybe I could learn more about the wine was all. I have never heard of one called that."

"A wine?" Robin raised an eyebrow at him, picking up the book and holding it close to her. "That's what you think this book is about?"

"Well, what else could it be?" Sanji perked up a little as he spoke, confusion hinting in the edge of his words. "Is it a rare one? Does it take long to produce? That would make sense and to keep it locked up so that drunk can't..." Sanji bit his tongue as the woman cut him off, her voice harsh and sharp.

"Zoro is _not_ a drunk!" She clutched onto the book tighter before turning and moving towards one of the small staircases that led to the second levels. Once at the top, she paused, turning and meeting Sanji's confused expression. "There is a lot here you do not understand. It would be wise of you to not make assumptions like that again Mister Black."

As he pulled in a breath to speak, a flutter of wings and a loud caw caught his attention as a large black bird landed on the desk with a hop, dropping a piece of paper onto the polished surface. It jerked its head about, looking from Sanji to the desk and around the room, flying to Robin with another call as it saw her. "Is that a crow?"

"Raven actually," She spoke lightly, scratching at the back of the animal's skull as she came to the desk. The bird hopped up her arm to her shoulder, continuing a random caw now and again as beady black eyes seemed to take in everything. "What have you brought me my dear Nami?" Picking up the paper, Robin read over it quickly, eyes widening before flicking her wrist and smiling at Sanji.

"What?" He asked simply, his own gaze locked onto the bird as it twisted it's head to preen some wing feathers.

"Why are you here Sanji Black?" Sitting in the large desk chair, Robin folded her arms across it, placing one palm against her chin. Her blue eyes shown with a mischievous glint and the blond swallowed.

"What?" Sanij said again, not entirely sure of the question. "I answered the ad in the paper for a private chef. You must have known that dear."

"Quite," she nodded slightly, but kept on. The black animal on her shoulder content to take it's preening bath without concern. "But what made you choose that particular ad?"

"I'm not quite sure I am following you Robin," The blonde frowned, leaning back in the chair and relaxing slightly. "It was on the list, so I sent out a resume. I got a phone call back to come by, so I did."

Robin was quiet a minute as she seemed to study him, fingers tapping lightly against her cheek. Parting her lips to pull in a breath, the librarian spoke with a collected tone. "When you encounter Zoro, what do you see?"

"What do I see? The man's a dr-" Sanji stopped as the dark haired woman raised an eyebrow in warning. "He's really blind isn't he?" The blond asked instead, to which Robin simply nodded. "He's just an aggressive mean person. He's arrogant and rude."

"Is that all you see?" Her voice held something Sanji wasn't entirely sure of and he nodded, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. "The next time you meet; take a closer look. Then tell me what you see."

The bird on her shoulder ruffled her feathers, cawing loudly to which a reply call sounded and a second bird landed on the desk the same as the first. "There's another one?!" Sanji blurted out as Robin ran a hand over this one's pure white feathers. Red eyes turned towards him as the bird took a hop closer and cawed loudly.

"Marvelous isn't he? A rare find Brook is. And what have you brought me today? Hm?"

Sanji stood, excusing himself and turning for the door, leaving the librarian to her weird pet birds. With his hand on the door, Robin spoke again, calling out to him with her lovely voice. "There are some things you do not wish the answers to, Sanji. Sometimes it is wiser to leave well enough alone." With a small laugh, she took a breath. "I look forwards to your lunch. You received my email?"

"I-I did; yes. Thank you Robin." With a sharp nod, Sanji ducked out of the room, slowly making his way down the hall once again. He shook his head in thought, wondering why exactly the historian had crows, no, ravens, and why they had brought her a piece of paper. What had been on that paper anyways? Whatever it was made her happy, that much was for sure. The questions pertaining to the blind drunk were a little off putting though.

Pulling his phone from his pocket and stopping in the middle of the hall, Sanji thumbed through to the app again. He scratched at his hair, still trying to wrap his head around the entire thing when he heard Law grumbling, a cold glare on his face as he stomped up the hall. "Oh, hey Law," Sanji started, stopping as the glare was directed at him.

"Robin-ya in her library?" He snapped out, gritting his teeth.

"Yeah; why?" Sanji stepped aside as the doctor passed, raising an eyebrow at the entire encounter.

"That fucking bird of hers-ya! I'm gonna pluck it!" With a slam of the library door, Sanji was left alone in the hallway again. He thought of going to aid Robin, but he was pretty sure she could take care of herself. Besides, whatever it was most likely had nothing to do with him and getting involved after that little conversation would probably not be wise. A ping sounded from his phone, dragging his attention from the closed doors and Sanji saw the calendar icon pop up. Getting close to lunch time prep already. He really couldn't wait till he got a better handle on things around here. It would be nice when he was able to have a little more down time between meals.

Trotting down the stairs, Sanji made the somewhat familiar trek back to the dinning room and pushed open the door to the kitchen. The first thing the caught his attention was that once again the wine cellar door was open and he ground his teeth in anger because he knew damned well he closed it before breakfast! Slamming it closed, he vowed to get a lock for it, when he heard the clatter of cans and the clacking of what sounded like hooves. Spinning on his heel he couldn't believe his eyes. "What the actual fuck?!" He blurted out as a sheep, yes, a fucking sheep, darted towards him and slipped on the flooring as it rounded a table headed for the screen door.

Sanji shot off after it, chasing it through the rest of the kitchen, onto the patio and deeper into the gardens. The crazed animal bleated the entire time, bounding over plant pots and kicking up gravel. It slipped as it rounded a corner, as did Sanji, his dress shoes and the loose stone not making the greatest of a combination and he lost the annoying animal as it bounced away. He and Franky were going to have a long conversation about that! Next time he saw that damned sheep in the kitchen they would have lamb stew for dinner! Who kept a pet sheep anyways?

With a groan and a clatter of gravel, Sanji swung to his feet, wiping his hands on his pants and checking to see if his pants were ripped anywhere. His palms were bruised and cut, throbbing from where he caught his fall. It would put a damper on cooking for a meal or two, but he would just have to deal. The blond looked out over the plush green garden for any signs of that white walking fur ball, frowning when he didn't spot it at all. How it had managed to disappear so damned fast was beyond him!

With a frustrated sigh, because so far, nothing here had been easy, Sanji turned around, heading back the way he had come when the splash of water caught his attention. That's right, Franky had mentioned a pool and now that he actually took in his surrounding, he recognized the same type of vine wall as the ones near the house. So the pool must have been on the other side. There was a set of small steps leading up to the open doorway and the chef walked up them quietly, peering around the edge of the wall cautiously.

At first all he could see was the pool, the high mid morning sun reflecting off the rippling waters, giving it a glassy appearance and Sanji peered around, looking for another person. Not finding anyone, he huffed, blowing air from his mouth towards his bangs, moving to turn on a heel when the water surface broke revealing a green head of hair. Rolling his eyes, Sanji continued his spin, only stopping when Robin's words popped back into his head. Now was as good a time as any right?

So what did he see? Peering back over his shoulder, Sanji turned, snapping his jaw shut at the sight. Lots of hard packed muscles under tanned skin caught his attention for starters. Water running in rivulets down his neck, shoulders and back as he effortlessly pulled himself from the water. The muscles in his arms bulging and flexing under the efforts of the haul, revealing a well defined and naked ass. Water cascaded over the rounded globes, down his hips and legs to pool at his feet. The blind man shook his head, water flying everywhere as he stretched his arms out over his head. Sanji could see all the muscles in his ass and legs tense with the motion as he curled his toes for balance and arced his arms back before dropping them to his sides again. The surprisingly graceful and fluid arc of his arms allowing for an impressive show of rippling from between his shoulder blades.

Sanji felt himself bite at his lip as he knew he really shouldn't be watching, but be damned if he wasn't perfection. Sun glinted off droplets that remained dotted on his bronzed skin as Zoro stepped forwards and for a split second the blond actually felt bad as he fumbled to grasp at the towel he had before picking it up and scrubbing at his hair with it.

A noise escaped him, but Sanji wasn't sure what to call it as all the movement from across the water stopped and the blind man turned his head, hand and towel still pressed against the side of his head as that white eye managed to once again pin Sanji to his place. The two were quiet for a moment, before the man snorted and turned to fully face him. Sanji snapped his eyes shut, more out of fear at what it would do to him, because even though the man was blind, gawking was just rude, than what Zoro would do to him. The man must not have cared if he walked about naked. "Cook?" He asked and Sanji was pretty sure he caught slight confusion in his gruff voice. "What are you doing out here?"

Sanji answered honestly, cracking one eye slightly relieved to see that the man had at least dropped his hands so the towel was covering his crotch. "I was chasing a sheep."

The green haired bastard had the audacity to laugh at him. The barked laughter echoing around the open gardens. "That's Merry." He said simply with a smile. A smile that Sanji found made him grin as well before a frown pulled in to replace it.

"Merry? The sheep has a name?"

Zoro grunted with a nod, moving to sit in one of the lounge chairs, crossing his feet at the ankles as he stretched out in it like a fucking cat. He tossed the towel aside and crossed his hands behind his head. The blond caught a fleeting glance at the other man before adverting his eyes to the water, taking a deep, calming breath and frowning at what appeared to be moss growing on the bottom of it. "It's Usopp's sheep." He spoke with a yawn and Sanji heard him crack something, his neck possibly. "I'm gonna take a nap. What are you making for lunch?"

"You didn't send me an email, so nothing you will like." Sanji snapped at him.

"Fish will be fine then." Settling his shoulders, Zoro closed his one good eye with a smirk.

"Everyone else said to not make fish though!" Why he was even arguing with the man, Sanji didn't know, but he was such a contradiction to everything else around here. The chef wanted to pull his hair out at the next comment the man made. Instead his stomped his foot and turned finally, stalking his way back to the kitchen to make lunch. Slamming his new kitchen equipment about as he shuffled through the walk-in looking for the quarter pan of trout he knew he had spotted the evening before.

"I'm not everyone one else am I Cook?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Sorry! Sorry!" Usopp slid into his chair next to Law, slamming his fists onto the table. "Let's eat!" There was a clatter of lids as everyone removed them to gawk at the food Sanji had masterfully created and plated. "Hey, Zoro," The curly haired man said around a bite of his salad. "Why are you sitting in Master Mihawk's chair?"

"Cause he's not." The blind man shrugged, stuffing a forkful of fish into his mouth and turning his head towards the doctor. Sanji still didn't fully understand how the blind jerk could tell where everyone was so easily. "Hey, Law, what'd that paper say?"

"I wouldn't know-ya!" The grumpy man snapped, slamming a hand onto the table. "Someone's fucking crow took it before I could read it!" He jerked a hand at Robin from her place further down the table.

"Nami is not a crow! She's a raven!" The historian sneered back, voice low and deadly. Next to Sanji, Perona swallowed and reached out quietly to grab at her glass, taking a drink and trying to ignore the entire encounter. "How'd you know about it Zoro?"

"Brook." The green haired man nodded sharply with a swallow, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "Anyways, crow's not that bad ya know. Kinda like gamey chicken. Betcha the cook could make something at least half way decent out of them."

Sanji's mouth dropped open as he jerked his head from the blind man to the woman as she practically yelled. "Zoro!" Robin's face dropped in horror as Law barked out a laugh, sitting back in his chair and pointing to the distraught librarian. "Don't talk about my birds like that!"

"They're just little spies," Law scowled as he picked up his fork and the blond was simply amazed at how fast he could go from one emotion to another, almost like a light switch as he stabbed at his plate angrily.

"I can smell that fish," Usopp muttered under his breath, reaching for his glass. "It's so gross, ever since that day I caught him eating in the pool." He gave a visible shudder and cringed. "Disgusting."

Zoro chuckled, waving his fork and grinning. "That was great. I wish I could have seen the look on your face. I'm still trying to figure out how to get you to make that noise again!"

"Like a fucking otter...just lounging on his back chewing on a raw fish..." He trailed off, shuddering again and looking down to his salad.

"Raw?" Sanji interjected, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

"Flicking my little tail and everything." Barking out another laugh, the blind man leaned his arm on the table and took another bite. "It's the sound." He waved his fork in a loose circle in the air before Perona quietly grabbed his wrist and forced it to the table. "I like to rip their heads off and listen to the skulls crack in my teeth." He spoke while he chewed, slight bob to his head the whole time. To say Sanji was distressed by the entire conversation would be an understatement, especially with Perona and Robin sitting right there! That was no way to talk with ladies around! What in the hell was wrong with these people!

Perona was ignoring everyone still, easting her food quietly and Robin, she didn't seem to care in the slightest though as she smiled slyly. "Like lambs to the slaughter."

"That's so gross..." Law shook his head. "Even for me-ya."

"Poor fish." Perona murmured next to Sanji. "That's no way to die, having your head ripped off." The cook's attention swung to her as she spoke. He really couldn't believe they were having this conversation! And at the table!

Sanji watched at the gardener practically turned green and pushed his plate away. "Enough, Robin! All of you! Every time you talk about it, I just get reminded of my family. All I can hear is the..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "Ever since then I can't handle meat...the smell...do you have any idea what it was like?!"

"I should have been there." Zoro's sudden growl and slammed fist on the table caused everyone to jump. His eyebrows lowered as if he was remembering some point in time, his typical scowl deepening even further, upset with himself at something he obviously didn't get to do.

"It's not your fault," Usopp spoke quietly, eyes flicking to the pink haired girl next to Sanji. The cook saw her place a hand on Zoro's arm, gripping at it tightly and he swung his face towards her. "You had other things you were taking care of."

"It's my job Usopp," Zoro spat out, ripping his arm from Perona's hold and running a hand through his hair.

"Was..." Perona started, but stopped as another growl left the blind man. He seemed overly upset suddenly as the pink haired girl's hands fell to her lap and she looked away to some spot behind the table. "Okay, don't get worked up."

"Too late!" He flung an arm in the air, biting out the words as he spoke. "I should have been there! It was all connected anyways." He growled again, something feral and the sound sent chills down the chef's spine. He had never heard a sound like that come from any one before and a quick glance around proved that the rest of the table hadn't heard it either. They had all stilled, eyes downcast at the table as the blind man went on his silent rampage.

"How were we supposed to know that?" Perona's eyes filled with tears as her lip started quivering and Sanji, completely shocked at what was going on around him, reached out to take hold of her hand, glaring at the green haired man. He didn't care if he could see it or not, there was no need to make the girl cry.

"If I recall, Zoro-ya," Law spoke up, turning from the sick looking Usopp, to the fuming man, eyebrows furrowing from under his hat. "I was elbow deep in your chest at the time."

"Don't remind me Law!" Zoro snapped, swinging his head towards the sound of the doctor's voice, slamming his fist on the table once more. Sanji jumped in his seat, along with everyone else. Perona's hand gripped tightly to his own momentarily.

"You did all you could..." Perona placed a hand on Zoro's arm again, but he merely grunted at her, casting his would be gaze to the side and sighing through his nose.

"It wasn't enough." He snarled moodily, crossing his arms, but letting the girl's hand linger on his arm.

Robin, who had remained quiet after her sheep comment, cleared her throat, setting her glass down and folding her hands in her lap. "There is still the matter of Sanji's test results to discuss."

"Yeah, speaking of him...why'd you cook this fish?" With a snort, Zoro turned towards his side of the table. "What color's his hair?"

"I don't see what my hair has to do with anything here." Sanji frowned, speaking quietly. Was everyone around here able to just flip switches to turn of and off their emotions? And what in the hell were they talking about?! Usopp's family got killed? And it involved Zoro? Next to him, Perona sniffled, wiping a hand across her eyes as she pulled her hand from his. "And why wouldn't I cook it? It's fish, you don't eat raw fish unless it's sushi and that's a very particular type of cut."

"I eat raw fish all the time!" Zoro thumped a fist to his chest. "I'm fine. Look at me!"

"You're an idiot." Usopp muttered, going back to his salad as he shook his head.

"Sanji's blond!" Perona added helpfully, smiling around the watery trails running over her cheeks. "Pretty cute too!"

"Blond?! That explains everything! Oh man, that's too good! No wonder he got out smarted by a sheep!"

Zoro's laughter was drowned out by the scrape of the curly haired man's chair as he stood, pointing at Sanji. His glared at the blond as he practically shrieked. "You are the one who scared Merry?!"

"Your damned sheep was in my kitchen!" Sanji jumped up as well, slamming his hands onto the table top, rattling all the glasses. "Do you have any idea how unsanitary that is?! I prepare food in there! The same food you're stuffing in your yap right now!"

"Gentlemen, please," Robin spoke up again, crossing her arms over her chest as she shot a glare to everyone about her. Zoro leaned back in Mihawk's large chair snickering to himself as Perona leaned forwards in hers to let Robin know she was listening. Usopp made some indignant noise before he dropped down into his chair, crossing his arms with a huff. Law pushed his plate away, frowning from under his hat.

"Sit down blondie," The blind man spoke with a smirk on his face, scrunching the bottom of the scar on his cheek. "Robin has shit we need to discuss. Enough of the distractions."

"You started it!" Sanji snapped as he dropped into the chair. "And I have a name, for the last time you dim witted shitty bastard!"

"I will have you know I am highly intelligent. I just choose not to show it as to not make you look quite as stupid as you really are." Zoro squared his shoulders slightly, adapting a self important pose as he swung his head about the room.

"Oh here we go again-ya." Law rolled his eyes, turning towards the librarian. "I would like to know what my tests results said Robin-ya."

"Yep, okay," Zoro clapped his hands together before dropping them to his lap. "Play time's over. What'd they say?"

Sanji shook his head and rolled his eyes, turning his attention towards Robin. "Indeed," she said calmly, pinning a glare at the man at the head of the table. Not that the blind bastard could see her or anything as he sat with his smug grin on his face, fingers messing with the sash around his waist. The cook was so glad he had put clothes back on. He was having a hard enough time getting those images of him naked out at the pool out of his head to begin with, he didn't need to relive them. "Yes," The historian nodded simply.

"Yes?" Came the collective reply, all accept for Law, who turned his gaze to Sanji, flicking his gray eyes to the chef's wide blue from under his hat. Zoro gave a snort as Perona squeaked happily, grasping onto the blond man's arm again.

"Interesting," The doctor remarked, tapping his fingers on the table top. "So he can see huh?"

"See what?" Sanji asked, glancing from one person to the other, finally settling back on Robin. He shifted his gaze to Zoro though as the man spoke.

His voice had dropped slightly, taking on the more serious tone he had heard once before as he stared unseeing down the long table, the white eye looking as if it were focused on the door at the far side of the room. His hands stilled in his lap, as he titled his head down and to the side slightly, gripping at the red fabric. He looked almost nervous, something Sanji didn't think the man was capable of as he blinked and shifted his head ever so slightly towards the side of the table where the chef sat. "If you look closely at me or Usopp...what do you see Cook?"

"I see you and Usopp," Sanji frowned, speaking instantly, not understanding what the point of the question was. Or why a simple yes seemed to cause such a buzz about the table.

"He will have to be trained," Robin spoke up. "Like Law was."

Zoro stood suddenly, yanking Perona to her feet. Sanji was about to snap at him, tell him he was not going to treat her like that in his presence, when he spoke again. "Not until Mihawk's back. Perona, we need to talk. Come on." He tugged on her arm again, but the pink haired girl took over, pulling her hand from his grasp and lacing her arms around his. He let her lead him through the kitchen doors and the two were gone, some unspoken destination they both must have known about.

Law left the room just as quickly, muttering to himself about his work and having to write something in Sanji's new medical file he was compiling. The dark haired woman excused herself and left the room quietly, leaving Sanji to run a hand through his hair with a sigh. This entire encounter, like all the others, was simply overwhelming. "D-do you really not see?" Usopp asked after a minute of quiet. To be honest, Sanji had forgotten the man was sitting there with him still.

"I honestly have no idea what that even means." The blond frowned, standing and beginning to gather up the plates on the table. With a nod, the gardener stood, helping quietly as the two cleared the table. Again, the help was welcomed and with how drained Sanji felt suddenly, he wasn't going to tell the man no. Living here and being around all the sudden and shifting emotions was going to take some getting used to.

Setting the last plate down, the dark haired man looked over to Sanji, his brown eyes wide and hopeful. "Just...just try. I have been told it can take some time to develop, but try to see the truth, not what you want to see." And he walked off, the dinning room door closing behind him with a soft click.

What the hell did that mean? Sanji watched the closed door for a minute, brow knitted in confusion at the gardener's strange words. He had no idea what that could even mean. Had no idea where to even start with what it could mean. Try to see? See what? He had perfect vision, had his entire life!

Everyone had reacted so strangely to him being able to see...whatever that meant. Pushing the cart into the kitchen, he headed for the dishwasher, stacking the plates and cups in the tray and making sure everything was the way it needed to be before heading outback for a cigarette. Sanji dropped into the metal chair with a groan, running a hand through his hair as he fished out his lighter. Clean up was well on its way now, giving him the three minutes of quiet he desperately needed to kick his nicotine craving in the ass. He also needed to stop thinking about that damned blind bastard! There was no rhyme or reason to anything he said or did, most of the people here just shrugging off anything the man did and it was pissing him off to no end. The first pure blissful drag was ruined when around the corner came Zoro, green-haired asshole himself, scratching at his hair as he grasped a hold of the vine covered archway. "Cook?" He asked, wrinkling his nose as the smoke drifting lazily about.

The blond leaned on the table with his elbow, temple resting on his closed fist. Rolling his eyes, Sanji took a deep breath. "Yeah?"

The blind man grunted and nodded, stepping fully around the corner and crossing his arms over his bare chest. The cook was relieved to see he still had at least put pants on, but the black fabric was wet again, clinging to his hips and thighs, as if he had jumped in the pool with them on. The blind man spoke as he toyed with a rock under his toes. "Go get me a...ugh, what's it called?"

"I have no idea moss head," Sanji scowled as he puffed at his cigarette. Like hell he was going to take orders from this man, blind or not, fuck him. He could take this whole confusing seeing crap and shove it up his ass as far as Sanji was concerned. An image of that perfect ass, naked and being hauled from the pool crossed his eyes and Sanji snapped them closed and shook his head.

There was a small chuckle. "That's a good one. No seriously, I need a bowl, but its not called a bowl and it's taller, and thinner." Sanji watched as the man moved his hands as he spoke, trying to shape out what he was failing to really describe. "Flowers." He said pointedly, hands smacking loudly off his legs, as if that would put everything together.

"A vase?" The blond asked as he sucked another drag off his cigarette. "Why do you need a vase?"

"Yes; get me one." With a sharp nod, he went to turn, pausing as he looked back over his shoulder, the one open eye shaded from the over hanging greenery, giving the white a slight gray hue. "Bring it out to the pool."

"What am I? You're fucking maid? Wait here and take it yourself!" Sanji snapped, rising to his feet as he snuffed his half smoked butt on his shoe.

"I'm busy." And he was gone, leaving Sanji to stare open mouthed at the entrance way. His hands hit his thighs in annoyance as the chef turned and reentered the kitchen, throwing open the door and grumbling under his breath. The dishwasher dinged that it was done its cycle, but the chef ignored it as he banged around, till he found a small rounded thin glass.

It kind of resembled a poorly made fishbowl, but it would have to do for the shit headed blind man and he stomped back out of the kitchen towards the pool, grinding rocks under his shoes the entire time. He opened his mouth to take a deep breath, to yell out to the annoying bastard when he rounded the edge of the hedged door and his insult died on his tongue.

Perona was still there, feet kicking lightly in the water on the far edge of the pool. Zoro was standing in the water, the water lapping lazily against his stomach as he moved his arms and the girl kept kicking her feet. Despite the tear stains the blond could see from the sun on her face, she was smiling and laughing at whatever it was the brute of a moron was saying to her. Sanji watched quietly as she nodded and Zoro disappeared under the surface of the water, reappearing a moment later with something cupped in one hand, small trails of water running through his loosely closed fingers.

Perona's eyes lit up and she reached a hand out, fingering whatever it was in the man's hand. Stepping onto the cement, he saw Zoro's shoulders tense slightly as he turned his head towards the noise. The pink haired girl moved her hand from his to the broad tanned shoulder, mumbled something and he relaxed, a grin spreading over his face. "You get the vase Cook?"

"Yes," Sanji crouched down next to Perona, who snatched it away and dunked it in the water, filling it most of the way, before grabbing at Zoro's free hand and placing it in his hands. The small item cupped in his first hand was dumped into the water as Sanji raised an eyebrow at it. "What is it?" he asked, craning his neck to peer over the lip of the small glass bowl.

"Moss," Perona beamed at him, then sloshed the water around a little as the bowl was handed back to her. "Isn't it cute!"

"Adorable," Sanji muttered as his attention snapped up to Zoro, who was staring unseeing in their direction, just listening to them talk. He had a small contented smile on his face, just a small upturn at the corner of his lips, hands resting on the top of the water.

The blond studied the man in front of him for a moment. What was he supposed to be seeing here anyways? The blinded man was just as normal as any other once you got past the green hair, white eye and scars. The one that slashed through his eye was long and thin, not raised like the other ones. It crossed the chef's mind if whatever managed to make such a clean cut over the eye had taken it as well. He had seen it once before, what happens when an eye gets punctured. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of it. It must have hurt terribly.

The one that raked through his cheek was jagged and deep looking, as was the one that bit into his lower lip. It actually reminded Sanji a bit like claw marks, something swiping at the man and managed to catch him off guard. His eyes trailed down his chest, falling on the long scar across it as the man reached up to scratch at it, small drops of water littering his tanned skin. Law had mentioned patching up such a horrible wound. Could those and his facial scars all be connected?

"It comes from our homeland," Zoro's deep scruffy voice punctured Sanji thoughts and he flicked his eyes back up to the white eye as it seemed to shift from Perona to himself. "They are called Marimo Cook."

"Marimo?" Sanji repeated quietly, rolling the unfamiliar word across his tongue as he keep his gaze on the white eye. It looked like it had a gold tint to it now that he was closer, but it could have just been the run reflecting off the water as well. "Like your head."

Perona snorted next to him and the small smile turned into a deep scowl as he swung an arm, splashing water across them both before falling back into it and laughing loudly as both the blond and pink haired girl's screamed. Wiping water from his face, Sanji glared at the man, who was now lounging on his back in the middle of the pool, kinda like an otter as the gardener had mentioned during lunch. "Zoro!" Perona snapped next to him, climbing to her feet and stomping one bare foot in a puddle. "That's not nice!"

"I do _not_ look like a marimo, Perona," the man barked out and rolled in the water, ducking under it. Little bubbles gave away his position, but as Sanji stood he began to grow slightly concerned that he hadn't surfaced yet.

"Is he okay?" Turning to the girl as she slipped her ear buds back into her ears, she nodded. Picking up her little vase with the marimo in it, she padded away without looking back, not caring that the blind man hadn't come up for air yet. With a frown, Sanji stood and watched, damning the sun for setting a glare across the water and not allowing him to see very well into the dark pool.

"Well, come on," Perona's head popped back around the hedge. "He's not gonna come up for a while, he's sulking. Just best to leave him alone."

With a dumb nod, the blond turned, half eying the pool as he walked to where the girl was standing. "How long can he stay down there? That's not humanly possible."

"Yep." Popping the "p" in the word, the weird girl nodded, hugging her vase close and walked away.


	6. Chapter 6

Sanji lay awake in his bed, staring at the darkened ceiling trying to figure out just what in the fuck kind of place he had gotten himself into! Since lunch a couple days before all everyone was talking about was this sight thing. What exactly that meant, though, no one was bothering to explain. He had asked Zoro when he had caught the green haired bastard in the wine cellar again, but he had simply snorted, dismissing him as he had the first time they met, threatening to break him the same way he had broken the lock on the door if the blond got a new one.

What the blind man used to break the lock off the wall still eluded him and how he had managed to find it as well. The entire thing had been ripped out, screws and all; Sanji finding it in the middle of one of his prep tables the following morning. The lock didn't look damaged, but the wall most certainly had seen better days. The chef had also received a smack up side the head from Franky when the grounds keeper came to repair the door frame, scolding him for even thinking of putting a lock on the wine cellar door.

"What's so damned important about the cellar?" He had barked out, slamming pans about the stove as he prepped an early dinner.

"Just leave it alone and leave the door open." Franky replied, frowning with a shake of his head. "Dude, you really messed up this door."

"I didn't touch it! Zoro did!" Slamming the screen door behind him, Sanji dropped into a chair, grabbing his smokes off the table and grinding the butt between his teeth. His next stop had been the library, but Robin had been no where to be seen and her damned birds were less than happy to see him poking his head through the door, cawing and flying at him till he slammed the heavy door shut and returned, brooding to his kitchen.

Law had been less than helpful as well, simply rolling his eyes and slamming his office door in his face. Sanji kicked at it in a bout of rage, getting a barked reply to 'fuck off-ya' for his effort from the other side. The only one who was of any help had been Usopp, but he had been acting strangely towards him ever since the lunch that it was first revealed he could see.

Upon returning from the pool shortly before he came to lay awake in his bed, grumbling about how Zoro never seemed to bring the dishes he took out there back, Usopp had sprang onto the path in front of him, startling Sanji and he almost dropped the glasses he was holding. "Have you gotten anywhere?" The curly haired man asked enthusiastically, bouncing on his toes with a wide grin. He gave no hint as to what he could have possible been talking about, even though Sanji was pretty sure he already knew.

"No," he replied, raising an eyebrow as he glanced curiously up and down the strange gardener's form. "I don't know what I am supposed to be seeing. This is all very confusing."

"You should see me." Fingers splayed, Usopp pressed the hand against his bare chest, puffing it out slightly. His wide grin was infectious and Sanji couldn't help the small chuckle through his frown.

"I do see you Usopp." This was getting him no where as well. Despite all his help, Usopp was holding firm to Zoro telling everyone to not explain this sight thing till Master Mihawk returned, which just annoyed Sanji to no end. How was he supposed to learn something that no one was instructing him on?

Rolling to his side in a huff, Sanji closed his eyes and tried to think back about what it was exactly Zoro had said at lunch. It had been entirely vague, that was for sure and he hadn't gotten any new details since. See what? He could see plain as day the people he was looking at. What was he missing?

There was a loud knock on his door, and with a growl Sanji got up, throwing it open to reveal a just as pissed off Law, frowning at him in his leopard print sweat pants. The first thing that caught the blond's attention were the elaborate tattoos across his chest and arms before the doctor cleared his throat, scowling when Sanji's eyes met his. "Master Mihawk is home-ya."

"So?"

"He's called a meeting. Let's go." And the brooding doctor turned and left, padding quietly barefoot down the hall, stopping at another door and knocking on that as well. Ducking back into his room to grab a T-shirt, Sanji closed his door behind him, walking silently on the padded carpet along with Law and a sleepy looking Usopp.

Together the three made their way to the library, the doctor slipping through the cracked door first, running a hand through his messy bed head as he sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Robin was standing behind her desk with a large book open upon it, frowning darkly at the worn and yellowing pages. Franky was sitting in her desk chair, arms draped over the sides as he slouched in it, spinning slightly with his foot. The large man looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept yet either.

Zoro was seated cross legged in the middle of the floor, hands on his knees, Perona leaning sleepily against him, hugging a ratty looking stuffed bear tightly. Usopp flopped down in one of the chairs, yawning loudly and stretching his arms over his head. As everyone settled down in chairs and spots on the floor, the yellow eyed man looked to each in turn before his gaze landed on Zoro and took a deep breath. "Miss Nico informs me that Sanji can see? Is this correct?"

The blind man simply grunted with a nod, his sightless gaze shifted towards the ground as he cocked his head to the side to listen. "That's what the doc's paperwork says. He can't though."

"We will train him," Robin spoke up. "I have been thinking about how to do so the last couple days. It shouldn't take all that long."

"Very well," Mihawk took another breath, his eyes never leaving Zoro this entire time. Sanji shifted in his seat he had taken, finding the whole encounter bizarre. Why was Mihawk so focused on the blind drunk bastard abyways? "Zoro are you listening to me?"

"Yes," he heaved an annoyed sigh and the blond could just picture him rolling his eyes. "Where'd you go anyways? I know you just disappear at times, but no one would tell me anything when I asked."

The tension that stiffened the air could be felt instantly and the blind man could sense it too as his gaze swung about the small half circle room from his spot on the floor. He shifted in his spot slightly, much to Perona's dislike, the tails of his green overcoat splayed behind him, the red sash pooled by his hip. "What happened?" He asked lowly, the edge of a growl in his voice.

Mihawk was quiet a moment, looking as if he were gathering his thoughts before speaking, and even Sanji felt bad for the blind man as panic seemed to strike him. His head whipped about, hand grasping a hold of Perona's tightly. "Mihawk, you better answer me!"

Sanji paused at that, casting his eyes from the man on the floor to the man who owned this place. That had been the second time the blind man had not called his boss Master Mihawk and this time to his face. "I got a call from Sabo," The Manor Master started, voice low as his eyes watched Zoro for any reaction he gave. The green haired man sucked in a sharp breath, sitting straight up and squaring his shoulders. "About Ruby."

"Ace?! What about him?! Is he okay?!" Zoro fell back into a panic, voice high and sharp as the others around him remained calm. Sanji glanced about, each person with hard neutral expressions as they listened to the blind man's rage. They knew the name and Sanji quickly put together that Ruby and Ace were at least connected somehow, whatever that meant.

"Zoro," Mihawk said again, the sound of the name harsh and firm from his mouth. He lowered his eyebrows, refusing to say more till the blind man settled down slightly, listening to Perona as she spoke quietly to him. His white eye was wide as he stared straight ahead at the desk where Robin frowned at her book, taking up a pen and poising to write whatever it was that their Master said next.

"Just tell me." The man snapped, body tense and shaking slightly.

"He's dead."

The collective cry of 'what' from the room echoed off the shelving. Zoro stood, rising to his bare feet faster than Sanji had ever seen, throwing Perona aside and stalking from the room. He slammed a fist against the door as he left and the pink haired girl jumped up to follow him, calling his name to which he ignored.

"Let him be Perona." The yellow-eyed man sighed, keeping his voice calm.

"What happened?" Robin asked, picking her pen back up from where she dropped it. She scribbled something down in the large book as the questions began to flood in from the others.

"Is Luffy okay?" Perona asked quietly, hugging her bear tightly. "I really should go find Zoro. He could get hurt it he's not careful."

"Very well," Mihawk nodded. "Luffy's not fine at all though. He's taking this very hard."

"Koala didn't send me word." The librarian frowned, tapping the pen against the book. "This is something I should have known when you left."

"Sabo didn't tell me over the phone either. I knew just as much as you did when I left. He told me it was important and I needed to get there right away." Turning towards Robin, Mihawk took a deep breath. "Once I arrived, I asked her to not send word. This was something I wanted to handle personally. How do you think he would have reacted had he heard it from Brook or Nami?"

"Wh—What killed him?" Usopp stuttered from his chair. Everyone turned to him and he shrunk back into the plush item. "I mean, something had to of killed him right? He's not that much older than Zoro."

"They are not sure. We think it was Onyx."

"The Hydra?!" Law hissed out, eyes widening. "No one has seen him for years-ya!"

"Not since Zoro's attack, no." Franky spoke from his chair. Robin glanced to him over her shoulder, before closing the large book and padding it gently. "So that leaves, what? Two?"

"Yes." Mihawk nodded firmly, eyes coming to rest on Sanji. "You will train him now. If he can truly see, than he needs to learn. He needs to be able to distinguish the truth from the mirage. Robin, I leave this up to you." Standing, he walked towards the door, placing a hand on it and frowning at the cracks that spidered through it from Zoro's punch to the hard wood. "I am going to find Perona and Zoro."

He was gone without another word, leaving the others in the stillness of the library. "My family..." Usopp muttered under his breath before taking a deep inhale, holding it for a moment before letting it out shakily. "I can't believe he's back."

"It makes sense-ya. We didn't kill him before, just scared him off." Law sat forwards, folding his hands together as he rested his forearms on his knees. "Do you think he knows Zoro-ya is blind now?"

"Let's hope not." The historian spoke coldly. "But he may. We must all keep a close eye out from now on. If he got to Ace this easily, no telling what Onyx is capable of."

With a grunt, Law stood, leaving the room, padding quietly as he scratched at his head again. Usopp bolted as well, tears in the corners of his eyes as he called after the moody doctor. Sanji stood as well, but stepped closer to the desk. His eyes fell to the book on the table, the deep red leather just as cracked and faded as the book from before, the word _Portgas_ in the same gold script. "Well babe," Franky stood, stretching his arms over his head. "I haven't slept yet. See ya in the morning." With a quick peck to the cheek, the large blue haired man was leaving as well, the cook shuddering internally at the fact he still had no pants on.

Sanji's eyes fell back to the book. He had so many questions. Who was Ace? What did it have to do with this book? What was Portgas? How did it all connect to Zoro and why was everyone so up in arms about something called Onyx? Opening his mouth to speak, the historian sat in her chair and threaded her fingers together, cutting him off. "Sit, Sanji, please."

Wordlessly, he pulled one of the chairs over, dropping back down into it with a huff. Crossing his arms over his chest, the blond chef waited for Robin to continue speaking. "The sight," She started, choosing her words carefully as she spoke. "It's something only certain people have."

"And I have it?" The blond mused. "How can you even tell?"

"Law has a special test he puts the blood through. People with special...qualities to their blood appear different under the test samples than those that do not."

"And what are these qualities? I'm getting real sick of the secrets around here my dear. All everyone does is tiptoe around what they want to say and leave out vital information! How am I supposed to learn anything about this sight shit if I don't even know what it is!" Sanji kept his tone low and flat, letting the sarcasm show that he was not amused by their performance in the slightest. "I would like some answers personally."

"Of course," With a slight nod, Robin seemed to agree. "What is it that troubles you?"

"Zoro, for starters. What's with that bastard? Why is everyone so protective of him? Is it because he's blind? How did he get like that in the first place? And why does he treat Perona so harshly?!"

"Those I can not answer. You will have to talk to Zoro about that. I'm sure once you are able to see him as he truly is, he will trust you more. He's always been like that. Very leery of everyone till they can prove their worth." She smiled coyly at him, answering him, yet not answering him just the same.

"Who's Ace?" He barked out, his tone a bit more demanding than Sanji would have liked when dealing with a lady, but dammit he was tired and pissed off. "And this book."

"Ace was someone very important and close to Zoro. His death is a great loss. This book was his."

"So his last name was Portgas?"

"Something like that." The smile remained and she again took a deep breath. "Not everyone needs to learn to use the sight. I, myself, was raised knowing what it was and how to use it. Same as Perona and Master Mihawk. Others, like Law, Franky and yourself need to be taught."

"Again, my dear Robin: how?"

"Everything you know is a lie." She stated, lowering her eyebrows at Sanji in a glare. "Go beyond what you have been taught by society. What you have been tricked into believing and think for yourself. People are not as they always appear to be."

"Usopp keeps telling me to see him, but I do see him. He's just a goofy gardener with a pet sheep. And Zoro, what am I supposed to be seeing? I don't understand at all." With a sigh, Sanji watched as Robin stood, walking ever so gracefully across the library. She came to stand in front of a low book shelf, fingers of one hand skimming the books till she paused and pulled a small one out. It was black and simple enough, no words or any type of identification on it to let the librarian know she even had the right book.

Sitting back in her chair, she slid the book across the large desk to the blond, who leaned forwards to take it carefully. "Read that. Once you are finished, we shall begin."

Sanji flipped through it quickly, frowning at the small script before returning to the first blank and slightly yellowed page. It felt old, the book did, something telling Sanji he needed to use extra care with this particular volume of knowledge. With light fingers, he turned the page, casting a glance up to Robin after reading the single word. She smiled knowingly, pointing back down to the book with a long delicate finger. The chef was glad he was a quick reader. He had a feeling there was a lot he was going to have to take in as he looked back down to the apparent title of the book.

_Myth._


	7. Chapter 7

_Legends tell of four brothers. They were each represented by the four directions and granted power over an element. First there was the eldest brother, Western Blue, granted the power of air. The middle brothers: Northern Red, granted the power of fire and Southern Green, granted the power of water. Lastly, was the youngest, Eastern Yellow, who was granted the power of the earth._

_For generations the four brothers, cohabitating quietly, worked together to keep the world at peace. But after a time, seeing how his older brothers' powers grew, the youngest grew bitter. Western Blue had the powers to call upon the winds, turn a hot stale day cool or bring in rains where they were needed. The second youngest, Southern Green had the powers to create those rains, kept the rivers from running dry, ensuring the peoples of the world did not go without food or grow thirsty. Northern Red gave them warmth and light with his mystical fires, turned quiet mountains into raging volcanoes that expanded the lands all around. What did that leave for him, Eastern Yellow wondered._

_A darkness soon began to grow inside his heart, eating away at him and consuming him. The lands began to shake under his rage, ripping and quaking, destroying towns and the quiet lives people had made. His brothers came to him, one by one, at first, asking him to stop, to turn back before his hatred consumed him and turned him to something he was not._

_But Eastern Yellow, once as bright as the sun himself, would not listen and slowly fell into shadow, consumed wholly by his contempt and malice. His brothers and the peoples of the world mourned their loss, the lands never quite the same without him, but they carried on. Never did the three eldest forget their little brother, but they did not dwell on him either. They could not, not with the world looking to them on how to handle the loss._

_Many more years passed, each of the three remaining brothers growing in strength. The three brothers took on new names as well, names the people gave them,changing and molding with the times. They bore them proudly; excited that they had not been forgotten by the peoples after such a long time. Yet saddened by their youngest brother not being able to join in with them during this time of great joy._

Sanji rolled his eyes. This book had to be the most boring thing he had ever come across. It told him nothing of how he needed to learn this sight bullshit. All it did was talk about these four messed up brothers. He was glad he was an only child.

The morning was warm, the birds were singing, somewhere off in the garden he could hear Merry call out and Usopp answer her. There was a splash from Franky by the pool as well. So was this what a quiet normal morning looked like around here? Not that it was really normal. Perona had said over breakfast that the blind jerk had spent the whole night in the pool, sulking at the loss of Ace.

No one would explain further than that to him and Sanji was once again finding himself slamming his new kitchen equipment around during clean up. "Read the book," they kept saying. "The book will help."

"Bull. Shit!" Flipping through the pages with another sigh, Sanji stopped upon catching a name. Flipping back to the page, he slammed it shut, jumping to his feet and turning for the kitchen. This was now the third time he had seen that name. Why was it so damned important?! _Roronoa._ What did it mean? First the locked room in the cellar, then on the cover of the book in the library and now in this book. Tromping down the cellar stairs, rattling the wooden frame as he went, Sanji was quite surprised to see Zoro closing the very door he had come to investigate. "What are you doing?" He snapped at the man, glaring at him for no other reason than the fact that he was present.

"Minding my own business Cook. What are you doing?" The man snapped back. His eyebrows lowered as he tilted his head forwards slightly at Sanji.

"I want answers. What's Roronoa mean?" Crossing his arms, the blond stood feet shoulder length apart, standing across from the other man.

Zoro stiffened at that. His whole body jerking upright, as his face slipped into a neutral expression besides his one eye going wide. The two men had a sort of stare off, if one could really call it that with a blind man, as Sanji searched his face for some sort of other reaction. After a moment, the green haired man snorted, jerking his head back, shouldering passed Sanji and making his way up the stairs. "That's not an answer Zoro!" Sanji yelled after him, gripping tightly at the support beam at the base of the stairs.

The man paused at the top of the stairs, his left hand gripping onto the rail tightly. Looking over his right shoulder towards him, Sanji couldn't help but land his gaze on that white eye as the man growled out the words, the tone deep and dangerous. "Don't call me that again." And he was gone before what he had actually said fully registered with the chef.

With a growl, and still no answers, Sanji spun on his heel, grabbing at the doorknob and rattling it harshly when he found it was locked. Zoro could get in and out of this Roronoa room, why couldn't he? What the hell was so important about a damned room anyways?

Jumping back up the stairs, he returned to the patio in a huff, dropping into the chair and grabbing the book off the table. He stared angrily at the blank cover for a moment when Zoro's words finally sank in. He had said not to _call_ him that again. Was that his name?! Why didn't anyone call him that is that was his name?!

The library.

Book in hand, Sanji made his way towards the library, opening the door, stopping short when he saw Robin sitting behind the large desk quietly. She looked up to him, slightly shocked, her blue eyes narrowing slightly. "Finished reading that already?"

"No," Sanji grit his teeth for barking out the word at her and took a deep breath, slapping the book against his leg in his hand. "I found a name though. I wanted some answers on it. What's Zoro's connection to Roronoa? I just ran into him and he told me not to call him that!"

Robin stood instantly, circling the desk and walking silently on her heels up to the chef. "You called Zoro...Roronoa?" The slight pause and the raise of the eyebrow from the historian flustered the blond.

"Well no, I asked him what it was. He said not to call him that. Got all weird and shit before he stormed off somewhere. What's that room about also?"

The historian clicked her tongue and frowned at him, her eyes hard as she snatched the book away. She flipped through it, opening it to about half way through it and turned it around to show him. Sanji glanced down at the words, skimming quickly over more useless crap on those four brothers. Taking the book again, he pinned the page with a finger before dropping into a chair and running a hand through his hair.

Closing his eyes and gripping at his own hair, Sanji spoke calmly, each word spoken slowly as to try to not lose his temper with the woman again. "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, Robin. What am I going to learn from reading this book?"

A loud caw and the flutter of wings sounded as the clack of nails landed on the desk. Robin turned to her pet, as Sanji snapped his head up, glaring at the beady black eyes of Nami as she pecked lightly at her master's hand with another loud caw. The librarian ignored the bird's bite, moving to pick up the small piece of paper she had brought. "Thank you Nami," Running a hand down the bird's sleek inky plumage she turned back to Sanji as the bird called out once more and flew away. "You are going to learn a very important history."

"A legend. A fable! The _title_ implies that what I am reading isn't real." Sanji glanced up to meet the woman's cold eyes once more. "I will finish this, but I still want answers!"

"All in due time Sanji." Walking past him, Robin paused to open the note, humming to herself. "You may yet change your opinion on such matters. I must be going now. Please, feel free to sit here and read."

"Thank you," Sanji glanced up to the desk, noticing the time and frowning slightly. "I must be getting ready to prepare lunch for everyone."

"Suit yourself." Slipping out of the door, Robin disappeared, much like everyone else in this damned house and Sanji got up, taking note of the page and making his way back to the kitchen. He only half payed attention to what he was doing while he cooked. The motions of prep and serving being more of reflex than anything else at this point.

He just couldn't get all this out of his head. Robin was implying the story of the four brothers was real. Both the blind bastard and the librarian had seemed spooked when he spoke the name Roronoa, Zoro especially. What was the big deal about it anyways? It was becoming more and more clear that it most certainly wasn't a wine of any sort, but something else. Something they really didn't want him to be saying out loud.

As they sat about the table, Master Mihawk announced that most of them would be going out that night, some sort of meeting to attend about his work, allowing Sanji to take the night off from cooking. This suited the blond just fine as he had some research of his own he planned on doing.

Slipping back into the library, Sanji found the two bizarre ravens fast asleep, huddled against one another on a perch in the corner. He breathed out a sigh of relief before finding the shelf Robin had removed the Roronoa book from with his eyes and quietly moving towards it.

His dress shoes sunk into the thick carpets, even as he climbed the stairs and switched on the small lamp, turning to the row of shelves and crossing his arms. The rest of that little black book hadn't told him much, some of the pages had been torn out and the only mention of Roronoa had been that it was a name given by the peoples.

Instantly his eyes fell on both the green leather and the red leather of the aged books and carefully the blond pulled the red book down. The golden script shown dully in the lamp light and finding the page marker, Sanji opened it, flicking his attention to the large sleeping birds as he did so. Robin's elegant script was at the top of the left page. _Ace has been slain by The Hydra._

The chef frowned. This told him nothing he didn't already know. Slamming the book shut, he stilled as the birds shuffled, startled in their sleep and he muttered a curse under his breath for his carelessness. The last thing he wanted was those birds telling Robin he had been in here. He didn't know how she did it, but the historian could talk to them or something and Sanji didn't need them telling her he had been in here snooping around.

_Portgas._

That name had been mentioned as well as a few he hadn't heard before. Sliding the book back, he pulled the green leather one, grunting under the heavy weight and settling it down on the table quietly. _Roronoa._ Now he was going to get some answers. Opening it to the marker page, Sanji read the first entry on the left page. It was dated several months before hand, large flowing script, but different from the dark haired woman's.

It spoke of how Zoro was getting better with each passing day, the wounds to his chest and eyes fully healed. Commented on how Law says he will make a full and complete recovery despite being blinded in the attack by this Hydra. Detailed how he was adapting to his new surroundings, had taken over the pool for his own and that work on the room in the cellar was almost complete.

The room in the cellar.

Again it all came back to that damned room in the wine cellar! As he returned that book as well, and still feeling as if he had gotten no where, Sanji vowed to get into that room. Tonight. Right now, while everyone was gone.

Well mostly everyone, he honestly wasn't sure who was left here, not that it really mattered anyways, no one really bothered him in the kitchen besides Zoro and he had questions that bastard was going to answer the next time he saw him. Whether he liked it or not.

The trip back to the kitchen was becoming more and more familiar, taking no time at all as he flicked on some of the lights to the open room before making his way to the once again open door of the wine cellar. Sanji was also not surprised to see the lights of the cellar on. In fact this delighted him greatly, meant most likely that the blind bastard was down here somewhere and he was going to corner him to get his answers. There would be no running for Zoro this time!

When Sanji's feet hit the dirt, he stopped, honestly taken aback at the fact the door to the one room he hadn't been allowed into was cracked open. A dim light seemed to be on inside the unfamiliar room and with a deep breath, the chef mentally psyched himself up for what he was about to do.

Pressing a hand against the door, the worn wood rough under his fingers, Sanji pushed it open the rest of the way, trying to curve his neck around the door as it opened. The first thing that caught his attention was that it was just another wine cellar. The same bricked walls like all the others, only there were no racks and only a few empty glass bottles littering the floor. The blond toed one with a frown as he peered around the rest of the room.

His eyes instantly fell upon the back wall, or better yet, the lack of a back wall. The bricks appeared to have been smashed and hauled away, leaving a large black gaping maw of a hole there. What appeared to be claw marks scraped along the edge as if something from with in used the wall as leverage to climb out of whatever lay beyond.

The marks fell away however, the need to instantly explore beyond the strange portal taking a back seat as Sanji's eyes fell to the table near the hole on the side wall. The table itself wasn't much to look at, just some grayed out beaten up piece of junk actually, but what was placed on top of the table made Sanji gasp in awe and step closer.

Resting in an elaborate stand were three swords. They appeared to be some sort of katana type, long thin cases housing what Sanji could only surmise as extremely sharp blades. Each one was so significantly different than the others, yet so similar just the same. He reached out to touch the top one, a brilliant white weapon, but paused as he glanced towards the middle and bottom swords, a red and black respectively. Why were such beautiful crafts locked away in this room? Were these Zoro's? Had the blind man been some sort of swordsman before this attack by Hydra?

Pulling away, the chef turned his attention back to the hole in the wall, stepping towards it and pausing just on this side of it. The dim light cast from the bulb in the ceiling did little to illuminate whatever lay beyond and with a swallow, Sanji stepped over the low lying brick into the darkness.

Warmth flooded over him instantly, hitting his body and face like someone turned a fan on him, pushing hot air at him in a constant wave. There was also the distant sound of water, but what or where exactly it was coming from, Sanji couldn't pin point. Feeling out with his feet, he took another cautious step forward, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. The blond could feel himself blinking but still couldn't see much of anything.

The ground under his feet was still dirt but it felt smooth and packed, void of any rocks or tree roots that he thought may have been out here. Maybe this was some sort of natural cave they had discovered somehow. But again, what did it have to do with Roronoa and Zoro?

Sanji tested his luck. "Zoro?" He spoke calmly, hoping for some sort of reply, but he also wouldn't be surprised if all he got back was an echo. Somewhere water dripped, the weird blip like noise reverberating off the walls. "Are you down here?"

The weird scraping sound caused Sanji to jump, freezing to his spot at the strange new noise. Something was most definitely in here with him! But what he couldn't tell. Taking a step back, subconsciously raising his hands in front of him, Sanji went to turn and run back for the safety of the wine cellar when something curled about his feet and pulled them out from under him. He fell flat on his back, smashing his head, the air rushing from his lungs and leaving him to gasp like a dying fish on the hard ground as a growl sounded, along with more of that strange scraping noise.

Inhaling deeply, shoulders grinding back into the dirt, Sanji attempted to sit up, to flip to his feet and bolt for the light. Just as he was planting his hands for leverage, something grabbed him, pinning him to the floor where he lay. In the barely there light cast from the dim cellar room he could see what appeared to be sharp black talon like claws digging effortlessly into the ground on either side of his head.

Panic overwhelmed him and the short panted breaths were beyond Sanji's control as the weight of the claws pressed down on his chest, threatening to break his ribs and possibly even end his life. Was this Roronoa?! Was this why the room was locked all the time?! Why would Zoro even come in here if something like this lived down here?! Why did something like this live down here?! What was this?!

The growl sounded again as the talons flexed over his slim body. A light appeared above him, turning and focusing in on him slightly as it lowered itself towards him. No, not a light, Sanji realized as he stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the orb of gold flecked white that stared him down. He swallowed, his throat beyond dry as he tried to get the single word out. The one word he hoped would pause this...this thing from killing him. "Zoro?"

The eye stopped moving, jerking back slightly then rushing forwards to be just inches from his face. It was all he could see, the eye itself almost casting a dim glow of its own, the white brighter than any other time he had seen it before, a splattering of what looked like gold dust swirling about the opaque surface. The deep voice boomed around the room, echoing off the walls as each word was snarled out at him. "My name is Roronoa." It sounded so familiar, each syllable vibrating through Sanji's body, the weight of the talons pressing down making it hard to breathe. "So you can see after all."


	8. Chapter 8

When Sanji woke, groggily opening his eyes, the first thing that swam into his blurred vision was a frowning Law. Next was pain and he was sure the contorted look on his face showed his displeasure as he stared blearily at the hat wearing doctor. The dark haired man looked up and away from Sanji, casting his gaze elsewhere. "He seems okay-ya."

"What were you doing in that room?" Master Mihawk's voice was harsh, firm and sounded from Sanji's side. Turning his head slightly, blinking more and groaning at the pain that blossomed in his chest, the chef wasn't at all surprised by the glare he was receiving from the man. "You should not have been in that room."

The fact that Sanji was in his own room, tucked under the covers of his comforter hit him. The last thing he remembered was that large white eye looming close to him. Then nothing. He must have passed out at that point. The immense pressure on his chest and the lack of air causing him to fall into unconsciousness. Master Mihawk was frowning at him as he blinked again, swallowing as he collected his words. "I was looking for answers. Everyone around here always conveniently doesn't quite answer them for me."

"And what questions would you have?" The Manor owner flicked his yellow eyes towards the doctor, then back to Sanji. "I have not heard of these questions." His perpetual frown only deepened. "If you had concerns you should have brought them to my attention."

"Kinda hard when you have been gone-ya." Law cut in, jerking back slightly at the glare shot his way.

"I just want to know what's going on around here." Shifting his arms, Sanji tried to sit up, gasping in pain as it rushed across his chest. Law placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him, to which Sanji didn't fight. Instead he pushed the covers down, exposing his now bare chest, sucking in a sharp breath at the bruise that darkened most of it. "For starters, what caused this?"

"That you know the answer to." Mihawk rose from his chair, hands crossed behind his back as he leaned slightly to take a better look at the strange Y shaped bruise across his chest. "That would have been Zoro."

"Whatever the fuck lives in that hole; whatever it was that pinned me down...it said it's name was Roronoa, not Zoro." Sanji snarled out the words, lowering his eyebrows at the older man. He gestured to his chest as he spoke, not at all pleased that once again he was getting non answers to his questions.

"They are one in the same." His voice was calm and steady as Mihawk spoke. "Not how I would have had you do it, but a decent crash course in using the sight just the same. Zoro has always been forthcoming like that." He nodded slightly, turning towards Law again. "Make sure he is taken care of properly and escort him out to the garden when he is feeling up to it. Oh and Sanji,"

"Yes Master Mihawk?" The blond spoke quietly, swirls of thought running through his head. There was no way that whatever that monster had been was Zoro. But the eye, the voice; there was no other option! And the way the Manor Master was speaking, it was like he was well aware of what that thing in the basement had been.

"It would be wise of you to not use that name again. When you are up and about, I will explain further, but there is a reason we call him Zoro. Please do remember that."

"I will." Sanji almost whispered, watching as his boss left the room, the door closing behind him softly.

Law cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes from under his hat at Sanji slightly. "It's mostly just some bruising. There is a cracked rib and I set a bottle of pain meds on your table. You should be happy-ya." He stood as well, picking up and shouldering a small medical bag. "When I first saw Zoro-ya he tried to bite me in half."

"B-bite you in half?!" The blond jerked into a sitting position, doubling forwards in pain as he did so. His gasped and coughed, which did nothing to ease the sharp pain in his chest. Just wait till he saw that bastard again! He was going to give that moss head a piece of his mind. "Wha—what is he?"

The doctor chuckled, resting his hand on the top of the bag, fingers messing with the clasp of the strap. "Lay here and rest a bit."

"No," Sanji wheezed out, laying back to ease off the pressure of his chest. His hand went to the darkest part of the bruise, gingerly feeling the swelling there as he pressed lightly at the sensitive skin. "I wanna know. Help me up."

Law grunted, shifting his bag over his back and grasping at Sanji's extended hand. "No one listens to me-ya. The pain medicine I gave you already should begin working shortly. It's going to take a few weeks for your ribs to heal."

"I know," With a pained grunt, Sanji was hauled to his feet, falling forwards a bit before catching his balance. Law's hands went to his shoulders and waist for support, eying the blond as he closed his eyes and swallowed again. "Okay," The chef nodded, opening them and looking at the other man. "I'm good. This isn't the first time I have broken something."

"That wasn't in the files I had transferred from the hospital." Stepping back, the doctor scowled at the floor. Slowly Sanji made his way across to his still packed bags, rummaging for a thin and light T-shirt so they could make their way towards the garden.

"I never went there that's why. It was over the summer I graduated from high school and was headed to college. Just because I graduated with a culinary degree doesn't mean it was the only thing I did."

"You're just as dumb as the rest of them-ya." Law crossed his arms, walking calmly next to Sanji as they exited the room and made the slow walk towards the gardens. "Always over doing it. Zoro-ya didn't listen either."

"You all seem pretty calm with the fact you have some giant monster here that walks around." Sanji grimaced as they came to the stairs. He leaned on the railing as they started the decent down them.

"Sanji!" Law opened his mouth to speak but the high pitched voice that came out was clearly not his and the two men exchanged a confused glance as Perona appeared at the bottom of the stairs! "Zoro told me you can see! That's great!"

"Oi! Leave him alone Perona-ya!" Law snapped, treading down a few of the stairs in front of the blond to stop the pink haired girl from attacking him in an excited hug. "He's hurt. Did Zoro-ya tell you what he did?"

"No," the overly excited girl frowned, pulling her ear buds from her ears and flicking a hand into the air. "All he said was that Sanji could see. Well that wasn't how he said it, he called you a shit cook and a weakling, which is so not cute! And not true! You're an amazing cook Sanji!"

"Thank you my dear," Sanji ground his teeth as he bit back the snapping comment he had about that blind bastard calling him weak. He was not weak! Coming to the bottom of the stairs, the three turned down the hall for the kitchen and the screen door that would lead to the garden.

"Zoro-ya tried to kill him." The brooding doctor said flatly. "Granted Sanji-ya here shouldn't have been in his den, but that is still not an excuse to try to kill the help."

"Did you scare him? If he was asleep, you may have startled him. He tends to act badly when that happens." Hands clasped behind her back, Perona frowned as she looked over to Sanji. "Besides he's very protective of his den. There's a reason the door stays locked. I'm sorry he hurt you. I try to keep him in line but he doesn't always listen to me."

"How'd you get in there anyways?" She went on, eyes narrowed at him in suspicion. It was so unlike her, the serious tone of her voice as the three padded along the hall. The muffled clomp of her boots matched the doctor's foot falls as he walked between Sanji and the pink haired girl.

"Good question." Law added in, rubbing at his jaw in thought and shifting his satchel again.

"The door was open." Sanji stated simply. "I went down there and it was open. I want answers. I'm sick of everyone jerking me around!" The three stepped into the dinning room, Law holding the door for the others as they made their way towards Sanji's kitchen. The swinging doors moved easily as the blond pushed through them, grumbling to himself about the entire encounter. He was starting to feel a little better, the pain killers Law had given him taking affect as he glanced about his kitchen.

It wasn't a total mess but was still dirty compared to how he would have liked to have seen it. He must have been unconscious during breakfast. Mihawk topped the stairs to the wine cellar, slight shock crossing his face as he noticed the three entering the kitchen. His steely gaze swept over the three of them before finally landing on the doctor. "Thank you Law. I am sure Perona and I can handle him from here." Without another word, Law spun on his heel and left, pushing back out the door he had just come through and was gone.

Sanji glanced from his boss to Perona and back, the two looking at each other quietly before Mihawk took a breath to speak. "Have you seen Zoro this morning Perona?"

She nodded, humming a yes. "He was out by the pool when I left him to come see Sanji." Lightly, she wrapped her arms around Sanji's much the same as she did to Zoro. "He was swimming."

"Then let us go there." Turning, the man walked through the kitchen to the screen door, the others following. The morning was cooler than the last, but just as bright, the sun already fairly high in the sky. The path rocks bit into the blond's bare feet as they made their way towards the pool and he winced as a sharp one poked at the arch of his foot.

The blasted sheep bounded onto the path, kicking up rocks and darting passed, almost tripping up the Manor owner, who gave an annoyed sigh before turning up the steps up to the pool. "Zoro." He spoke loudly, moving around the corner ahead of the others.

"Yeah?" Came the sharp, if not annoyed reply. "What do you want? More scolding? I already told you last night the coo—" The words cut off in a snort as the three stepped onto the cement lining the pool.

Sanji smacked a hand to his forehead. The damned blind bastard was laying on his back in the murky green tinted water, once again completely naked. Arms swinging calmly back and forth to keep him afloat, his blind gaze shifted towards the sounds of their voices as a wide smirk spread across his scarred face. "Ah, well, Cook. You're alive." He laughed as he shifted in the water, dropping to tread water easily.

"You bastard!" Sanji barked, snapping his hands to fists at his sides. The water bobbed about from the motion of the man's hands, a slight shimmer to it from the sun that had the chef narrowing his eyes in not only annoyance but from the brightness of the water.

"Do you see that?" Perona leaned close to Sanji's ear, squeezing his arm briefly before easing off again. "The shine?"

"From the sun on the water?" With a frown, Sanji watched as Zoro swam easily to the far side of the pool, once again hauling himself up and out of it easily with a grace he normally didn't give the thickly built man. At the same time the chef found himself sucking in a breath, eyes drifting over the wet defined shoulders and back of the man across from him; Sanji also found himself cursing. This man wasn't a man at all...he wasn't sure what Zoro was and here he was gawking. Again. He mentally rolled his eyes at himself for it.

The blind man bent slightly to pick up a towel, running it over his shoulders and scrubbing through his hair before turning slightly to run it down his legs. "It's not the water," Perona's gaze shifted away as Zoro dried off. "It's called the veil mirage."

"Veil mirage?" Sanji wrinkled his nose at the phrase, sighing internally as the green headed man pulled his black pants on. He began to make his way towards them, his sightless gaze straight ahead as his feet smacked wetly against the cement.

"Now that you have seen through it, even if it was by force, you will begin to see things differently." The pink haired girl kept her voice low. "Eventually you will hardly notice the mirage and you will just see things as they truly are. Zoro, though, he's different. The form you see here is human in nature. He can shift into it at will."

Zoro stopped just feet from where Sanji stood, feet shoulder length apart and arms crossed over his bare chest. His gaze shifted as he tilted his head slightly to listen to what Perona was saying. The scowl deepened, scrunching at the scar on his lip and pulling at the ones across his eye. The brilliant white of the remaining eye caught the blond's attention and the flash of the one he encountered last night with the swirling gold hit him.

The blind bastard himself hadn't changed from what Sanji had come to know him as, but as he looked the man over again, the blond couldn't help but see the shimmer, this veil, Perona spoke of. It rose off his body like heat from a fire, wavering into the air a few feet all around him. "You can't see Zoro's true form when he's like this." Mihawk cut in, glancing sidelong at the two before looking back to the man in question as he frowned at the three intruders to his pool.

"I'm not some trophy to fuss over Mihawk." He growled out, tensing his shoulders and chest defensively.

"I was simply going to explain to Sanji how your magic is too powerful against the veil." The man spoke quietly, yet there was an annoyed edge in his tone. "I'm still not pleased you tried to harm him."

"He came into _my _den!" One of the crossed hands slammed against Zoro's chest as the man opened his mouth in shock. "What else should I have done? I didn't hurt him. Well not too bad." He snorted a laugh as his own comment. "And I went to get Perona once he passed out. I could smell it on him." With another chuckle, the blind man wrinkled his nose and swung his head towards Sanji. "Fear. The scent so powerful. I haven't smelt it that bad in a long time."

"Fear!?" Sanji barked out, grinding his teeth as the other man continued to laugh at him.

"I'm pretty sure you pissed yourself!"

"Enough you two." Mihawk waved a hand to silence them, turning towards Zoro again. Sanji curled his toes against the cement as he clamped his jaw shut. "Just show him."

"Usopp would be a better start." The green-haired man grumbled, casting his sightless gaze to the still waters of the pool

"He saw you last night, so Sanji already has idea of what to be looking for." Perona spoke up unhelpfully and Sanji thought Zoro rolled his remaining eye. It was hard to tell with the entire orb being white, but his facial expression made the cook think that's what he did. "Only for a moment."

"This goes against all the rules you guys set on me." With a sigh, he stepped back a couple paces, raising his arms in the air, palms towards the sky. "Go big or go home right?"

No one answered him as the air about them all began to shimmer with the same strange wave like heat that Sanji now noticed seem to cling to Zoro. The air itself did seem to heat slightly, not uncomfortably so, but it grew warmer just the same, reminding him of the rush of air he felt in that cave the night before. In front of them, Zoro closed his eye, exhaling a deep breath as he brought his hands together in front of his chest, palms and fingers pressed against one another tightly.

In a swirl of air and water, Sanji's jaw dropping open as the water of the pool seemed to come alive, slithering from where it lay to circle around the blind man with the air. He took a subconscious step back as Zoro actually rose from the ground, all the water from the pool enveloping him completely in some sort of murky sphere. It boiled and rolled around, steam rising into the air as the water moulded and shaped into something else. Something much larger and more complex than a human, before dropping away in a crashing wave and a spray that drenched everything with in the area. Water flooded back into the now empty pool as Perona squeaked at getting soaked and Mihawk sighed in something that almost sounded like regret.

Sanji actually fell back on his ass, dropping to the cement and not only hurting his tailbone, but gasping as a new wave of pain rocked through his ribs. Water pooled about him, drenching his already soaked clothes as he pulled at the T-shirt that now clung tightly to his skin. There was no way this was real. The three of them; no all of them here playing some sort of insanely complex trick on him. This was the stuff of stories and nightmares.

Brilliant green scales flashed in the sun, wet from the water that had seemed to create them as a tail flicked lazily in the remaining water of the pool. Black taloned claws that looked surprisingly familiar dug into the cement, tearing it up easily as the long neck snaked down, bringing the creature's massive head to eye level. The white eye came into view as the head turned, the swirls of gold just as impressive as they had been the night before. More so as the sun hit them and glinted off the swirling vortex within the white.

Perona moved close, wrapping her arms around the muzzle, stroking into the green mane of hair like fur that started behind black horns. She didn't seem concerned with being wet in the slightest as she dropped her head against the broad forehed. A contented purr like noise came from the creature, closing his eye and nuzzling against the pink haired girl carefully. The snake like body coiled closer, the rise and falls of the long sleek body taking up most of the area on this side of the pool. "He's...is that really...?"

"A dragon?" Zoro spoke, his voice vibrating through the very air as he picked his head up, opening his eye again and staring down at Sanji carefully. "Yes." He opened his jaw, bearing long white fangs in some sort of predatory grin. Saliva dripped from them as the long tongue curled around one edge of his jaw. "My name is Roronoa, the Southern Green and controller of water."


	9. Chapter 9

A dragon!? A fucking dragon?! There was no way! No absolute way that this was real! It couldn't be! Yet, as Sanji sat open jawed and gaping at the monster in front of him, that was exactly what he was looking at. Suddenly that story made so much more sense concerning the four brothers. Roronoa...Zoro, whatever the hell his name was, was the Southern Green of the story, third youngest of four!

He watched as the beast turned from Perona, gliding into the water of the pool, circling upon himself as he laid down in it, taking up most of the area with his massive size. The blond could see the long jagged scar across his neck and chest, the scales dug up and torn like someone had clawed at them. The same could be said for the ones that raked across his snout and eyes, sealing the left one and blinding the right. They looked so much worse in this form as Zoro laid his head on the cement at the edge of the pool, snorting water from the end of his nose towards Sanji and Master Mihawk. Several long tentacle like whiskers, thick and scaled the same brilliant green, left wet trails along the cement as the dragon moved his head. "Happy?" His deep voice cut through the stunned silence with a growl. The very air seemed to vibrate with the bass tone, humming along Sanjji's wet skin easily.

"Yes, thank you." Master Mihawk nodded calmly, turning his gaze from the large reptile to the chef on the ground. "Do stand please, Sanji."

"That story," he blurted out, rising slowly to his feet as he continued to stare at the snake-like dragon in the pool. Water rippled about as the dragon breathed quietly, the small waves lapping against the sides of the pool softly. "There are four of you?!"

There was a sad sigh as Zoro twisted his head around, his scales scraping along the cement as he turned towards Perona. Once again the girl wrapped her arms about the beast's muzzle, dropping her head against the marred scales. "There were four," She said quietly. "Now there are only two left."

She scratched at the scales under the blinded white eye, titling her head to focus on what she was doing, Zoro giving her a contented humming purr like noise in return. No one spoke as a million things ran through Sanji's head. The foremost being that dragons were real, living and breathing in the pool in front of him. Zoro shook his massive head, sitting back up on his front claws as he took another deep breath. With a splash and a wall of water falling into the pool, the large reptile was gone, and green haired man resurfaced from the depths of the pool, exhaling the same breath and making his way towards the edge.

Easily he pulled himself from the water, sheets of the clear liquid cascading down his shoulders, following the dips and curves of the muscles in his back. Over his chest and rippling down his abs before getting caught up for just a moment on his pants and making its way down his legs to pool at his feet. With a hand, the blind man wiped at his shoulders and chest, as if to dry himself of the excess that remained on his tanned skin. "That story is no story," he spoke lowly, a slight growl to every word he bit out. His tone was deep, if not a bit remorseful as he spoke. "Even I am not sure how we came to be, my brother may know though, being the oldest, but it's all truth. There were four of us, each given power to help shape the world as it is today."

"And Ace was..." Sanji trailed off as the blind man turned his gaze towards him.

He frowned, a sad downward curve of his scarred lip as the harshe lines in his face seemed to smooth slightly. "Portgas was the Northern Red, yes."

"You should stop using your names," Mihawk spoke sternly, folding his arms across his chest.

"Do you think I care if he hears?!" Zoro snapped at the man, baring teeth as he did so. "He killed Ace! Tried to kill me! We have no idea where Phoenix is! If he's even alive. He's gonna come back! That bastard hasn't stopped trying to hunt us for centuries!"

"Zoro..." Perona moved to step near him, reaching out an arm to him. Clearly he was upset and angry, even Sanji got that much as he watched, still in shock at the fact this blind guy, who spent most of his time sleeping and drinking, was some sort of mystical creature of legends and fables.

"NO!" He jerked from her grasp and she jumped in place at his harsh tone. "This is enough! I'm sick of running from him! He's killing my family, _our_ family, for his own sport because he was pissed off!" Something welled up in the chef as he remained silent. He wouldn't call it fear, but knowing what lay under that anger made the man's grief that much more real. Sanji had never had any siblings, so he didn't know what the dragon was going through, but part of him, even if a small part felt bad for him. It had to hurt to lose someone so close. "He was childish then and is still childish now."

"What are you going to do Zoro?" The yellow eyed man still spoke calmly, but you could hear the restraint in his voice as he did so. He didn't seem to like the tone the dragon had and was trying his hardest to keep calm here and not snap at the, now apparent, older man. Sanji snickered to himself at that thought. Zoro may have looked to be about Sanji's age, but he was centuries older, maybe even millennium. It was kind of funny to him.

"Ima fight him." The blind man snapped, throwing his hands into the air. "Ima find my brother and we are going to fight him."

"Water and air against what's left of the earth?" Perona mumbled quietly, clamping a hand over her mouth as Zoro snapped his head back to glare unseeing at her. "Zoro, can you even? Look at what he did last time."

"In case you've forgotten Perona, I _can't_." He snarled out the words, the bitter tone in his voice plainly heard. "I can feel them though. Every day, I can feel the beat of my blood rush over these scars and not a day goes by that I don't think of sinking my teeth into his throat."

"Okay, hold on," Sanji, finally finding his voice, spoke up. His bare feet splashed in the water that was all over the place as he took a step forwards. "Zoro,"

"What Cook?" He barked at the blond, turning his heated unseeing stare at the other man.

"You're being hunted? By what? That Hydra thing Law mentioned?"

"Hydra is what he has become. He is no longer a dragon." With a sigh and a hand through his hair, the blind man turned and made his way back to his chair where he dropped into it. He stretched out and settled into it, as if sunning himself in the mid morning light. "I don't know what the peoples named him, if anything. My little brother was always the jealous type, looking to make everything his own and not wanting to help. He felt cheated, like he hadn't gotten any abilities worth his time, but the power over the very ground we walk on is just as important as mine over water or..." He paused, searching for a word that seemed to fail him. His mouth opened, then closed with a frown before he spoke again. "My brother's over air." He finished, scowling at what Sanji could only guess was his inability to use his brother's real name.

He was beginning to understand the layers of order and respect around here as well. Rules set in place by both sides to keep Zoro safe from this Hydra. And possibly the others as well, if the little looks from dinner at Perona the other night were anything to do by. There was an unwritten respect they all cast towards the dragon, and rightly so, even Sanji felt a slight twang of regret at being so hotheaded with him. Yet at the same time, Zoro seemed to respect them as well and they all seemed to bounce off one another easily. Whether is truly was Zoro or Master Mihawk who had the final word though, it was hard for the chef to tell. "Your own brother wants to kill you?" Sanji spoke lowly, almost mumbled the words but Zoro grunted at him none the less.

"Yes. We tried to talk him out of it, but he was already gone. It started here," A hand came up, fingers lightly touching at his own chest over his heart, sliding across the few stray water droplets with ease. "It's as the book says, once a hatred, that darkness from within, is planted, it is very hard to remove. It consumed who he used to be. I didn't even recognize him the first time I had seen him since he left us."

"And the last," Mihawk cut in, scowl curving the corners of his mouth downward with ease. "That was the night that he took Zoro's sight from him, almost took his life as well. If it wasn't for Law, he most certainty would have been killed." The Manor owner turned his disappointed look from Sanji to Zoro. "You tend to forget that."

"I don't forget anything." Waving a hand, the blind man closed his eye, shifted further into the chair and sighed heavily through his nose. His hands rested easily in his lap as he crossed his feet at the ankles, flexing his toes as he did so. "Your family tends to forget that. Sometimes I think the girl's the only one with any brains out of the lot of ya's. I'm done with this. Get out of here."

With a sad look cast his way, Perona turned on her heel and left with a small sigh. She didn't even question Zoro as she popped her ever present ear buds back into her ears. Mihawk stood a second longer before he, too, sighed heavily. "You are impossible when you get like this."

"Don't get me like this! Stop bringing in people I have to explain it to or start explaining it yourself." The dragon's tone was flat as he crossed his arms behind his head. Zoro completely dismissed the Manor Master without a second thought to it, settling back into the lounge chair roughly.

"Come along Sanji," Master Mihawk spoke quietly to him as he turned as well, placing a hand on the chef's shoulder before walking away. "It's best we just leave him to brood for a while."

"No, Cook, you stay. I wanna talk to you." Sanji wouldn't say the tone of his voice was commanding, but Zoro did speak to him with an air of someone who was listened to with out question.

"You wanna talk to me?" The blond raised an eyebrow as he glanced back at his boss. The man cast a glare at Zoro before treading down the steps and vanishing. Turning back, the chef made his way over to the other man. He wasn't afraid of Zoro in the slightest and for some odd reason, knowing what he really was made Sanji that much more at ease. He couldn't explain it at all, but knowing some of the answers to his questions made him feel a lot more relaxed about this entire household and the situation.

"You are here for a reason," Zoro started before Sanji even got to him. He didn't bother to open his eye or even move from his position. He simply spoke as if he knew where Sanji was. And perhaps he did. For being blind, the man moved like he could still see somehow. Feet smacking wetly on the pool's edge, Sanji sat in the chair next to the blind man, sitting on the lip of the seat and resting his arms on his knees. "What that reason is though, I'm not sure. I can't figure you out."

"Figure me out?" Sanji's brow furrowed in confusion. He forced himself to take a deep breath, feeling the pain spark across his chest and into his stomach. He tensed at the pain as he held the breath a moment too long before letting it out slowly through his nose and relaxing once more.

"Well, yeah," The green haired man's brow crinkled as well in his own confused look, dipping and stretching the scars as he did so. "Mihawk, Perona and Robin, I know why they are here. Franky is her mate. Usopp and his stupid sheep I feel I owe and Law, well...That's complicated. But you," He sat up at that, throwing a leg over each side of the chair and swinging his blind gaze towards the chef. The dragon seemed to stare straight at him and Sanji couldn't help but watch that white eye. He found himself searching for the flecked gold he had seen before but all he could see was the pale color against deeply tanned skin. "_You_ I just don't get. We have been fine with out an actual cook for a long time, then out of the blue Mihawk decides to get one and you appear on the doorstep. You can see and aren't screaming for your life anymore, so somewhere..."

"You think I knew I could?" Sanji finished for him as he cut him off. Zoro grunted and nodded, seemingly satisfied with the blond's answer.

He swallowed as he rolled a hand in the air as if searching for some word he couldn't quite find. "Subconsciously," he finally stated firmly. "I have seen if before. Some time past someone could see, or there may have been some mating. The blood has to come from some where."

"Humans don't call it mating Zoro." Sanji rolled his eyes as the man shrugged. "Are you saying I'm not human?"

"No," he spoke calmly. "You're human. It's more than likely your family was able to see through the veil at birth at one point, like Mihawk and Perona. Then just over generations you lost it. Happens all the time. All those weird encounters of the paranormal you see on the news and what not."

"This is unbelievable." Sanji mumbled into his hands as he dropped his face into them.

"Well it's true." Zoro settled back down into his chair. "He's gonna come back, my little brother. You need to be ready."

"Ready?" Picking his head up, he looked over to Zoro, who closed his white eye and hummed contently into the sun.

"Yes. There will be a fight. He will be out to finish the job this time. You got any skills Cook?" He grinned, crossing his arms behind his head for a rest. "Well useful ones anyways?"

"I grew up learning a weird form of Mauy Thai and Savate." Sanji shrugged it off like it was no big deal, mentally grinning as the dragon furrowed his brow at the comment. "It's kickboxing while wearing my shoes basically." He continued before the other man could open his mouth. The scars on his lip quirked and bunched as Zoro's face twisted as he seemed to contemplate the chef's words, before giving a half nod and bobbing his head back and forth.

"If you can fight with it, than it should work." Zoro stated plainly. "When I'm not so busy, and you have healed up a bit; I would like to see you fight."

Sanji couldn't help it. The words just came out. "Busy? You're not busy. And how do you expect to see me fight?"

Thankfully for the chef, Zoro simply snorted in laughter, turning his head slightly towards the sound of the blond's voice. "I'm sunning. I wouldn't expect a human to understand really. You let me worry about my ability to see or not." He shrugged. "Now, off with you. You're interrupting my nap."

"You asked me to stay out here!" Jumping to his feet, Sanji stopped himself before he kicked out at the chair Zoro was laying on. He heard the man's toes crack as he flexed them once more, stretching out and Sanji averted his gaze from the man's chest and stomach before he was caught staring at him for too long.

"And now I am telling you to leave. Bye Cook."

"Oh, you're useless." Trudging off towards the doorway to the pool, Sanji rolled his eyes. Once he got to the stairs though, he paused, turning back to look over his shoulder to the other man. He hadn't moved at all. Arms still crossed behind his head as he tilted his head back slightly, exposing his neck more to the sun above. With a sigh, Sanji walked down the stairs, this time being mindful of the walkway rocks as he picked his way back towards the kitchen. He still had a lot to learn about here it seemed.


	10. Chapter 10

The entire encounter was a bit more overwhelming to Sanji's injured frame than he originally thought it had been and as he started preparing an early lunch, it became quite clear that he wasn't going to be able to work at the speed and skill he normally would have. Sliding onto one of the silver stools, the blond rested his arms on the table and dropped his head onto them, staring blankly at the floor as he once again forced a deep breath into his lungs and shakily let it back out. His whole body seemed to hurt now, despite the pain killers Law had almost forced down his throat when the scowling steel eyed doctor discovered him in the kitchen pulling pans off his hanging racks.

He didn't remember his ribs hurting like this the last time he had broken them, yet again, when that had occurred it had been a well placed kick coming at him from his own level, not the weight of a fucking dragon trying to stomp on him like a damned bug!

"You okay?" Perona's voice wasn't quite as high as it normally was as her red boots squeaked across the floor. "You don't look so good Sanji. You're really pale. Maybe you should go lie down."

"I'm fine, really." Picking his head up to look over to her, his vision swam and a wave of light-headedness washed over him. Groaning he dropped his head back to the table, mumbling into his arm. "Okay, maybe you're right."

"I will call Law." Her voice was low and calm, Sanji realized. She was attempting to...what? He didn't know, but it was welcome, that much the chef was aware of. The two were quiet a moment until she clicked her tongue. "He's not answering. Want me to find Usopp or someone?"

"I can make my way there after I finish lunch, my dear." Standing again, Sanji leaned his weight on his hands before standing on his own again. "Just a lot to take in around here is all."

"Yeah," she nodded. "Breaking the veil can be pretty overwhelming when you are not used to it. And you're injured on top of it. Are you sure you are gonna be okay? I'm going back out to the gardens. I can get Zoro to come walk you to your room. I don't think he'd mind."

"Perona, forgive me dear, but how is he going to walk _me _anywhere?" Turning back towards the stove, Sanji wiped his forehead on his sleeve and raised an eyebrow at Perona.

The girl shrugged as if the dragon being blind never occurred to her. "If you need anything, call me okay? I will have my phone on me." Perona turned towards the door, pausing at it once she got there. "Don't over do it Sanji. You need to heal right now."

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine." With a weak smile and a frown from the pink haired girl, they went their separate ways and Sanji finished preparing lunch, excusing himself to go lie down for a couple hours before anyone, except Perona and Zoro, who had come back inside, could ask him any questions.

Perona had insisted then as well that Zoro walk the chef to his room, but the blind bastard had barked out a laugh and turned, tromping his bare feet into the wine cellar and most likely the Roronoa room. Hands on her hips as the pink haired girl yelled after the green haired man, Sanji took the moment to slip away.

Getting to his room took a little more effort than he cared to admit, but Sanji sighed in relief as he closed the door behind him and leaned against it. This had to be the most fucked up situation he had ever put himself in to date. And the blond had done what he had thought had been some bizarre things in his life.

He was thankful for the drawn curtains as he curled still bare toes into the plush carpet, the fact he had been cooking barefoot only now occurring to him. So unsanitary in a professional setting such as this and he continued to berate himself as he climbed into the bed and settled his shoulders against the headboard. With a thunk Sanji dropped his head on it, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath yet again.

With no plan to truly sleep, Sanji rather planned to just distance himself from the chaos that was sure to be lunch and the house hold, to relax and let the creepy doctor's pain meds fully take hold. There was only so much supernatural bullshit he could take in one day! And he still had Usopp to tangle with as well. He severely hoped the damned gardener wasn't a dragon as well, the blond wasn't sure he could handle that.

Letting his eyes close, Sanji took in the stillness of the room, listening to the almost hum like noise the silence of the room made. Even through the heavy curtains though, he could hear birds and the occasional blat of Merry in the garden, the light edging around the curtains just enough to be able to see faintly. Taking another deep breath, Sanji let it out slowly, turning his head and cracking his eyes as he heard the door creak open.

His vision remained narrowed, things slightly blurry as the gap became larger, eyes only widening as tanned fingers reached around the edge and Zoro appeared instantly in the room, the door shutting softly behind him with a click. "What are you..." The blond trailed off as the other man raised a hand to his own mouth in a gesture to be quiet.

"I came to apologize." His voice was low, but still gruff as he ran a hand through his short cropped green hair. Sanji couldn't help but let his eyes wander. The shadows of the dark room cast themselves perfectly across the dips and curves of the dragon's muscles, defining the already cut contours of his body even more. There was something so dangerously wrong about him having such a precise form and Sanji wasn't sure if the lick to his lips was something he really did or just thought he had.

His black pants were set low on thin but formed hips, the two muscle cut indents dipping under the hem and almost begging Sanji to follow them. It took a lot of effort for him to pull his gaze back to the marred face as Zoro spoke again, the scar across the bridge of his nose scrunching as he furrowed his brow. The thin light lines across his lips and cheeks pulled as he said what it was he needed. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did last night with you not knowing."

Clearing his throat, Sanji nodded weakly in an attempt to refocus his brain. "I shouldn't have been down there snooping around." The last word caught in his throat as the blind man shook his head and walked over to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed like he owned the place. Perhaps, Zoro truly did.

"For all that I am," Zoro started, voice still low and slightly gravelly as he leaned forwards into Sanji's space slightly. Once again, as so many times before, Sanji's attention went to the blinded white eye. Only now, he was searching for the brilliant flecks of gold as the dragon's voice seemed to vibrate through him. "I can't heal you."

"S'okay," he murmured, completely unaware he was leaning forwards till Zoro's hand snapped out and grasped at the base of his neck by his shoulder. The thick calloused fingers were warm, the heat seeming to pool under his palm as the other man brought his forehead to touch the blond's. He took a deep breath, closing the one open eye and let it out slowly through his nose. "Zoro?" Sanji asked quietly, trying his best to search the expressionless face so close to his own.

"It's been so long..." The dragon trailed off, voice still low and Sanji was aware of how unlike himself he was right now. For all their encounters to this point, the chef had never seen the other man be anything but rude and hostile to everyone, even Perona, although of them all, she was the one he was nicest to. "If I asked...would you..."

"Would I what?" Wrinkling his nose at the question, Sanji didn't dare pull away. The dragon's temper was short on a good day and he was still injured. There was no way he would be able to defend himself to the best of his abilities if Zoro decided to snap out of this docile mood.

"Lay with me Sanji." It was not a question, nor a command. Just a simple spoken sentence as the blind dragon tilted his head slightly, pressing his mouth over Sanji's. The blond blinked in surprise as he stared at the bridge of Zoro's nose, just taking in the warmth of the other man before he reacted. He leaned into the kiss, feeling the dragon's hand run up into his hair and he let his eyes fall closed.

Sanji was beside himself as he parted his lips against the other man's, tongues coming to meet almost lazily in a slow dance of exploration. The blond could admit that, yes, he was physically attracted to the body that Zoro had chosen, but whether he was truly attracted to the man...dragon, whatever he was... his personality, the chef couldn't say. Not that he was caring with the way the skilled tongue wrapped around his own and pushed him back into his own mouth, the heat of Zoro's body flooding him as the hand in his hair pushed him closer.

Zoro shifted on the edge of the bed, never breaking the kiss, swinging one leg over Sanji's own as he settled onto the blond's thighs. He pulled away then, pressing his forehead against the chef's own and Sanji could feel the heat seeping into his own skin. That was the most intense of feelings in his surroundings right now. Everything was warm with a radiating heat coming from the dragon. Nothing over powering, but Sanji was content and joined in the slight hum as the dragon moved to nuzzle into the crook of his neck and shoulder.

"Why me?" He breathed the words as he let his head fall back, the back of his head hitting the headboard with a rattling thunk. The dragon's tongue traced a path across his skin, leaving cooling tracks across heated skin before placing a kiss against his racing pulse. "Zoro?"

"You don't fear me." Each word vibrated against Sanji's throat, the feel of Zoro's lips against him. The tanned hand from his hair trailed down the other side of his neck, each finger mapping out more skin before coming to rest on his chest. "Even now, you aren't afraid."

"How..." The rest of the words caught in the chef's throat as Zoro bit at the pulse, the hand on his chest pressing a little too harshly against his side. "Shit! That hurts."

Zoro didn't answer, simply hummed in response as he moved farther down the pale neck, shifting his weight to pull the T-shirt from Sanji's frame. It landed on the carpet with a muffled sound as Sanji lowered his arms, resting his wrists on Zoro's shoulders. The other man continued his exploration, mapping patterns against Sanji's skin with tongue and teeth, small nips and bites as he made his way down his bruised chest. The light but firm grip to his sides was constant, the dragon's thumbs resting just under his lowest set of ribs, body arcing forwards in what seemed an impossible angle for Zoro.

The chef moved his hands, splaying both wide as he trailed them down tanned skin, feeling the rippling muscles of the warm body under his palms. His mind was racing again. How could this be happening? Why was this happening? Was he going to let this happen? What exactly would it mean if he and Zoro...Would they? _Could_ they? Is that why the dragon had come to him?

He was so warm and so welcoming, such a contrast to everything Sanji had seen of the gruff creature so far and it seemed to be only for him. Zoro had sought him out for this intended purpose...so had the dragon figured out whatever it was that had confused him earlier? "Don't speak," Zoro had almost demanded when Sanji asked, moving to slip under the sheets with the blond. He curled against Sanji, shifting his body lower as he kissed at his bare flesh. Over the dips of Sanji's own abs, short nails raking trails towards his hips, thumbs catching his sweat pants easily.

He didn't even realize he had grown hard till Zoro bit his naval and all the blood in his body seemed to beat from his groin, a small groan of approval escaping from behind his own bit lip. The blind man chuckled and Sanji found himself wishing he knew what his eyes were like before he had been blinded. What color had those irises been? What type of fierce piercing gaze would he have had commanded when even now his stern looks could send shivers through him. Had they been gold? Shining brilliantly in the sun and glowing with purpose from the darkness?

Sanji found his hands were in Zoro's hair again, fingers scratching lightly at the scalp as Zoro eased his sweats off his hips slowly. Just before he was free of the confines of the annoying article of clothing, the dragon paused and the blond rocked his hips up in an effort to express his want to keep going. A small whimper of need escaped him as he felt the solid body of the dragon shift over him again and tilted his head into the touch at his cheek.

The touch was feather light, yet soft like fur and Sanji opened his eyes to see a tuft of green pull away from him, slithering and coiling like a snake before the realization that it was Zoro's tail hit him. He jerked away from the glimmering scales, slamming his back against the headboard and shooting pain down his body core. Zoro held his hips hard suddenly and all the warmth Sanji had felt was replaced by a sudden gripping fear as he snapped his attention to the man with him.

The dragon was crouched now, up on his feet with one knee pressed into the mattress as the long and elegant tail swished slowly over him, much as a cat stalking prey would do. His head was down, his mouth hovering over Sanji's naval still, small puffs of hot breath stirring the fine hairs circling the indentation of his belly button. "Zo—Zoro?!" He managed to get out, the pain of his ribs and the sudden realization that maybe the dragon wasn't here for sex slamming into Sanji almost as hard as the sharp nails that welled blood from his hips.

"I can smell you..." His words were deep with the hint of a feral growl. He kissed Sanji again and the chef could feel the scrapes of sharp teeth as the dragon moved up his abs towards his pecs and neck. All Sanji could do was lay there panting, swallowing and holding his breath in an attempt to calm himself, fear rising to the surface again as he watched in budding horror as the dragon climbed back up his body.

Zoro's upper body was littered in scales as well, small patches of dazzling green making him look even more bizarre than normal. The tail curled over them both now, coming to rest against Sanji's racing pulse in his neck. The fine hairs tickled his jaw and the chef clenched his teeth trying to fight the urge to rip his head away from the touch. He could feel his blood sliding down his hips, soaking into the sheets as the green-haired man's hands moved back up his body, fingers leaving bloody trails over his pale skin.

His breath caught in his throat as Zoro looked up to him, feral smirk giving hint to overly sharp canines as he raised a hand to lick the blood from his thumb. It was the eyes though. The eyes that caught Sanji's attention. The pure shining gold obscuring all the white and giving off a slight glow as they seemed to swirl with different hues of the color. Even with no pupil, Sanji knew those eyes were locked onto his own, locked onto the widening fear that he was sure was evident on his face.

The dragon licked at his hand again, grin widening as his eyes flicked to his neck. "Didn't I mention?" His voice held a predatory growl to Zoro's every word as he leaned forwards, licking at the blond's pulse once more. The man hummed slightly and the blond could feel him lick at his lips against his skin. "I can taste it too now."

"W—what?" The word hung in the air, thick and heavy as Zoro hummed in a want unlike anything Sanji had ever heard. The hand he had licked moved down, palming roughly at Sanji and the blond hissed in tense pleasure at the firm grip along his length. His touch was like fire, the heat of his palm almost too intense against the chef's already flushed skin. The gold eyes studied him closely, a faint light dusting over his nose and giving his tanned flesh a warm glow. The pointed tips of sharp canines dug into his lower lip, but it seemed to Sanji that the dragon could have cared less.

"The fear..." With a growl, Zoro opened his mouth and sank his teeth into the raging pulse of Sanji's neck. The blond tried to flinch away, the sound escaping his mouth anything but lust, but the dragon was faster. He snapped his arms up, fingers digging into the chef's upper arms as he settled his weight onto Sanji's hips. He couldn't move; the chef all but frozen to the spot as he felt Zoro's tongue lap at his blood. Warm trails ran down his neck as he tried to buck against the iron grip on his body and he gave a shudder, his stomach turning on itself as he felt the long teeth leave his flesh. The flat of Zoro's tongue ran over the wound as he hummed contently, nuzzling into the blood with his nose and smearing it across the pale skin. "It tastes so much better than it smells."

Sanji bolted upright, gasping in a deep breath as his arm flew to his neck, smacking against it and sending the sound ringing around the quiet room. He rubbed at the spot where he could still feel Zoro's teeth, pulling away to reveal nothing but his own palm, beyond thankful he was alone. Dropping back against the pillows once more, he stared up at the dark ceiling wondering when it was he had fallen asleep and what exactly was in those pain meds that Law had given him. Maybe he was better off dealing with the pain if he was going to have dreams like that. One thing was for certain though, Sanji was hard and there was no longer a way he could deny his attraction to the dragon, even if it was fucked up.

Which it was...totally and utterly was. He gulped, swallowing the lump in his throat and rolled to his side, fumbling to pick up his phone. Lighting it up, he groaned and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The chef had actually been asleep for a few hours and it was time to start dinner. Picking up the bottle of pain meds, Sanji decided to forgo them for now, setting the small bottle back on his night stand before standing up and stretching stiffly.

Sifting a hand through his hair, nails scratching at his scalp, he tried to smooth his hair as he padded towards his bedroom door, remembering to slip on his sandals before returning to the hall and making his way towards the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, Sanji closed his door behind him trying to push the vivid images of his dream far from his mind so he could focus on his cooking. He needed to get a handle on himself before he encountered the dragon next. The chef began to think about what was in the fridge in an attempt to do so, curious about the state of his kitchen upon arrival and who he would see next.


	11. Chapter 11

Nami and Brook flew by him, circling around the large open hallway and striking off down the hall towards the library, cawing loudly to each other. They swooped and dived at each other, the flutter of their wings breaking the stillness of the front corridor. Sanji watched them go, eyebrow raised in question, carefully and cautiously making his way down the stairs.

Just as he was reaching the bottom of the steps, he saw Robin round the corner, coming from the hall where Master Mihawk's office lay. "Oh! You're awake." She stopped with a small gasp as his presence must have startled her before she gave him a warm smile. "How are you feeling this evening? I was just informed you have broken the veil."

The chef swallowed and nodded. "Yes, I am pretty sure that is what is happening. A nice warning on that blind bastard being a dragon though would have been nice, my dear." Sitting on the last few stairs, Sanji ran a hand through his bed raggled hair again as he dropped his arms to his knees. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, the pain blossoming there now much greater than before. That's what he got for not taking the pain meds, but it was a lot better than weird ass trippy sex dreams about a dragon trying to rip your throat out he supposed. Unless of course you were into that sort of thing...the chef was going to have to talk to Law about changing his medication at some point in the near future. He could just see the raised eyebrows during that conversation.

The librarian giggled as she came to sit next to him on the stairs. A hand came to rest over his arm and she squeezed gently. "Tell me, have you encountered Usopp yet?"

"No," Frowning, Sanji looked up to Robin. He blinked once, then several more times, convinced for a moment that the shimmer around her was from the pain medication wearing off before it occurred to him that she may also be like Zoro...something non human. She hadn't mentioned it, but she didn't seem like the type to reveal personal information too often. Robin didn't respond to his staring, instead watching him with a lidded expression as the blond seemed to work things out on his own.

The historian was nothing like Zoro and Sanji wasn't even sure if what he was seeing was part of this veil shit or not. Robin looked...well, human. There were no horns, or scales or fangs to be seen anywhere. She was human as far as he could tell, yet the dark purple aura that rolled and folded upon itself that surrounded her was anything but. Small flashes of what appeared to be lightning flickered along the darkness that shrouded her, drifting down the stairs and along the floor like a dense slow moving fog before reaching a certain point and doubling back towards the dark haired woman.

The entire...storm...was the word that came to mind, had the same dark purple hue, the lightning striking silently in almost white flashes. Sanji got the feeling there was something very old about Robin that he wasn't aware of, yet, he didn't dare ask. Mostly because you never asked a lady her age, but also because he was a bit concerned as to what she could do to him. "Master Mihawk," Robin started as Sanji's gaze flicked back to her. He wasn't even sure when his eyes had drifted to the raging storm surrounding their feet, but they had. "He sent Franky out for take out. He said that you were in no condition to cook this evening."

"I...I am fine, Robin, truly." His brow furrowed as he watched the fog, drifting lazily along the plush rug. It seemed to be searching, thin tendrils snaking about the carpet, working their way down the hall before turning back and venturing in a different direction.

"Zoro stepped on you." Well when she put it like that...

"Yes...I suppose I should give my ribs a few days to heal before I return to cooking." The blond couldn't believe how calm Robin was being about this whole thing. He was sure now that she knew he knew she wasn't human...but what she was, he still couldn't say. She stood and the mists swirled about her, following her every move and coiling around her feet almost like it was alive.

Turning Robin held out a hand to Sanji. "Odin-son." She said confidently as the chef looked at her hand.

"Excuse me?" Sanji used the rail to help haul himself to his feet, grasping lightly at the hand offered. Robin gave him another smile, but he couldn't help but think this one was on the verge on mocking his lack of knowledge.

"I am an Odin-son. A messenger of the Asgard." She spoke with an air of importance, rising to her full height as the mists around her swirled darker and the blond was pretty sure he could hear thunder rumbling at her feet as well. She stared down her nose at him, but it wasn't a threatening glare that met him. It was one of her rank and importance, something that Sanji really didn't know much about.

"Like as in Vikings?" He raised an eyebrow at that in question. "As in the god, Odin?"

"He is my grandfather, yes." Robin nodded, relaxing back into the librarian Sanji had come to recognize over the last week. "When I heard about what was going on with the brothers, I came to help Ro—Zoro."

"How old are you?!" The words just came out. Sanji smacked a hand over his mouth, mumbling an apology behind his fingers.

Robin laughed it off with a wave of her hand. "Older than many, but the story of the four brothers was old when I was but a child. My father would tell it to me at night. Same as his father told him."

"So, you're a goddess then?" Sanji just couldn't believe this. First a god like dragon, now...a Viking goddess?! What the hell was Usopp then?! The devil himself?! Robin turned from him and started the walk towards the kitchen and dinning room. She paused to look over her shoulder to make sure Sanji was following. A thin trail of the fog wormed towards him, wrapping loosely around his sandal clad feet as he stepped forwards and he got the weird feeling this had happened before.

"No, well, as you would know it, yes. Asgardians are not actually all immortal. I am not, but I am close to it." She watched coolly as Sanji fell in stride next to her and the two continued the walk down the hall. "I fall into a different category. I am a messenger; a gatherer of knowledge. Nami and Brook are my companions in that venture. I will live until my time needed has ended. Since I have been charged with helping to maintain and guard Zoro, that will be for a long time still."

"Charged? You said you came to help Zoro?"

"I did. And once Father found out what I was doing, he charged me with the task. It's his job as king of Asgard. But enough about me," she waved a hand again, dismissing the conversation entirely. "Tell me about your encounters with Zoro. I will need to make a note of them in his book."

"What do you want to know? Fucker stepped on me and broke my ribs." Sanji frowned, then winced as he jumped forwards to pull open the large door to the dinning room for the librarian. She thanked him, but frowned as she obviously caught his wince of pain.

"Well, that, yes." Stepping through the doorway, Sanji slipped in behind her. The room was quiet and dimly lit with no one in sight. The kitchen door was propped open with the silver cart and a crash sounded on the other side followed by Perona's voice. The high pitched squeak echoed out to them followed along with the barking laugh of one obnoxious blind dragon. "Well, this shall prove to be most helpful," Robin mused, walking off towards the door leaving Sanji to trail behind and catch up.

The scene that met the blond when he came to the doorway made him groan. The place was a mess, well by his standards, with Perona standing over one of his prep tables waving a large knife, and the wrong kind of knife mind you, in the general direction of one shitty moss covered Zoro.

Literally.

He was perched on a stool, feet thrown wide as he leaned one arm on the table, the other hanging onto a tall thin half empty bottle, stray bits of moss sticking out of his hair and clinging to his open jacket. He grinned at the pink haired girl, licking his lips and craning his neck to the side as he tilted his head. "I can just eat them ya know." He said gruffly, frowning as Perona waved a hand in dismissal.

"Not while I'm here!" She barked at him, returning to what Sanji could now tell was chopping the heads off the pan of fish from the fridge. He made his way over, making sure he stayed as far away from Zoro as possible. This was Zoro. A jerk of a person who couldn't even be bothered to learn Sanji's name; reminding himself over and over that this man...this _dragon_ was not the one of his dreams. This Zoro was not the one who had crawled into his bed and kissed him, teased him, stirred feeling in Sanji that he hadn't before hand put much thought to...and now was an inappropriate time to be thinking such things.

Zoro's blind gaze swung towards them and he snorted, picking up the bottle and pulling a long drink from it. "Robin." He bobbed his head in a nod, then sneered towards Sanji, showing off his canines as he did so. "Cook."

"Zoro," Robin replied coolly, laying a hand on his arm for a moment and the removing it. Sanji simply rolled his eyes and huffed, turning his attention towards Perona. "Having fish are we? What? Can't eat with the rest of us?"

"Mihawk said something about Chinese...not my thing." The dragon shrugged, reaching out a hand to nab a chunk of the fish, pulling back as a loud smack from Perona's hand hit his own. He shook out his fingers with a small shake of his head and a slight whine to his voice. "Sometimes I think she does this on purpose. Crunching the skulls in the best part!"

"That's sick and gross and wrong." Perona shuddered as she threw another decapitated fish into a second bowl. "You can just eat them this way."

"You don't have to stay while I eat ya know. I am capable of bringing the tray back."

"Damn right you will." Sanji snorted as he met the unseeing eyes of the dragon. He raised his own eyebrow, not that it did any good since Zoro couldn't see him do it. "These pans aren't toys, they are cooking instruments and are not to be played with."

"Oh, well listen to you." Zoro leaned back on the stool and he could hear his boots clunk against the bottom shelf of the table. His voice was gruff, yet somehow carried a slightly amused tone to it, almost like a hum with each word spoken. "Trying to tell me what to do."

"My kitchen. My rules." Sanji shot back, jerking a thumb to his own chest, not in the least bit intimidated by the dragon. A silence fell upon the room, started by a heavy thwunk of the knife Perona was using as it sank into the cutting board. Sanji would feel it as it closed in around them and could hear the silence hum through the air. The stool Zoro sat on creaked as he straightened a little before blinking slowly in the chef's direction and letting out a snort of laughter.

With a shake of his head, he grinned again and took a swig of his bottle. The liquid, Sanji could only assume it was alcohol, the smell helping in that small tip off, swished around the bottle as he pointed towards Sanji with the item still in hand. "That's a good one."

"It's the truth of the matter." Sanji placed both hands on the table, still giving the blind man his best glare. "I don't care who you are...fuck with my kitchen and I'ma fuck with you."

"Starting to get why it was you." With a pointed look in Robin's direction, even though it was clear the dragon meant Sanji, he stood and turned his attention fully on her. "You want to talk I take it? Let's go then? Cook, think you can carry that pan out?"

"I'm not done..." Perona started, a frown forming on her lips.

"It's fine." Zoro waved a hand as he started towards the screen door that led out back. He paused, raising his arm for Robin to take, which she did so wordlessly and the two started once more for the door. "Cook...come on."

"I can take the tray out Sanji." Perona turned her attention to him as the screen door slammed closed with a bang. She threw one last fish into the large pan, before setting the knife down. "You shouldn't be lifting much with you ribs."

"I can manage." Sanji grunted out, stepping to grasp at the metal bin of headless fish. "You clean up in here for me please? There is bleach under the sink for the cutting board. Fill the left basin with water and pour in one cap full okay? Just one."

Perona nodded vigorously, popping her one missing ear bud back into place and turned away from him to start her cleanup. The tray of fish didn't seem all that heavy, but as soon as the blond went to pick it up, pain shot through his chest and upper body and he had to set it back down for a second. Taking a deep breath and gritting his teeth, Sanji picked the container up a second time and made his way towards the pool, where he was sure the two had gone.

Merry was foraging about in the large open section of the garden, causing Sanji to pause for a moment to look at the little white sheep. He wasn't sure if he was expecting the same shimmer to surround her or not, but not seeing it and coming to the conclusion that she was indeed, just a sheep, he carried on. There was a large splash from the pool and Sanji looked up to the wall to see the sweep of what could have only been Zoro's tail.

He rolled his eyes as he stepped around the corner into the pool area. Sure enough, there was Zoro, sprawled out on his back, just as Usopp had described, in the pool water, his tail flicking on the cement near Sanji and his head twisted around so he could speak to Robin, who sat on the edge of one of the sun loungers on the far end. As soon as his sandals padded onto the wet concrete, splashing in a small puddle, the dragon's head whipped around and he rolled over, turning in the water and almost slithering towards Sanji. He rose up on his front feet, black talons digging into the edge of the pool as he turned his head to the side, the large white eye with its swirling gold facing him.

Sanji ducked as the whiskers wormed about, one almost smacking him in the face. There was a low growl like noise that the blond could only hope was a laugh. "You did that on purpose," he spoke to Zoro as he lifted the tray slightly. "Where do you want this?"

"Just set it down." Zoro followed Sanji's every move as he handled the tray, walking a few more paces before setting it on the edge of the pool for the dragon. He dived on it instantly, grabbing up a rather large fish and splashing back into the water, settling on his back once more as he proceeded to eat the fish like a fucking otter... With a huff, Sanji rolled his eyes and made his way over to Robin.

"He truly is an amazing creature." She commented offhandedly as the two listened to the loud smack of his jaws as the fish disappeared almost whole into his mouth. "He can sit at the table with us and act completely human or come out here and well..." Robin gestured with her hand to the large water newt in the pool. There was no need to further comment. "Explain to me why you were in the cellar to begin with Sanji."

As she spoke, the purple fog shifted and moulded about them, blanketing the ground around their feet. The blond felt small prickles over his toes as lightning flashed about in the depths of the cloud like fog. "The door to the cellar was open and the light was on." Eyebrows dropping in confusion, Sanji sat on the other lounger, pushing Zoro's clothes away from him without thought. "Why does he even bother to turn the light on anyways? He can't see right?"

"I heard that." Zoro grunted, shaking his head and flicking water at the two of them. "And I can see...just not like you can." Sanji was going to ask for an explanation on that, but Robin turned the conversation back to where she wanted it with a pointed question about him going into the Roronoa room.

"The door was open." Sanji replied simply. It was the truth, the door had been open. "Once I was inside, curiosity got the better of me."

"Scared the crap outta me!" Zoro snorted again, grabbing at another fish. There was the sick sound of flesh being ripped apart, followed by the dragon's loud obnoxious chomping. "I was sleeping." Sanji bit his tongue, almost barking out to the dragon to not talk with his mouth full. He may have if he thought it would have done any good.

"And you didn't close the door behind you Zoro." Robin turned her scolding tone on him effortlessly. Sanji was amazed actually. Everyone had a weird form of respect for everyone else yet they all bickered and spoke like they were equals on one level or another.

"I didn't think nosy cooks were going to come snooping about in my den." Zoro replied, rolling over on his stomach and scratching behind the long horns on his head with a rear foot. He turned his head away, revealing the side with the scar and Sanji couldn't help but look. The marred scales and black flesh that lay underneath reminded him of freshly broken earth being prepared for gardening. The long tracks across his eye and snout looking like furrow lines in a field.

With another shake of his head, Zoro took a deep breath and vanished into the pool with a splash of water before once again resurfacing as the human Sanji was used to seeing. He still wasn't over the fact the other man was a damned fucking dragon, but this time around the entire encounter seemed more...natural and relaxed as Zoro swam to the edge and hauled himself out of the water.

Naked.

Again.

At least the moss wasn't in his hair anymore.

Oh god...

Sanji adverted his eyes as he stepped passed him to pick up the towel that lay behind where he was sitting. He had no words for the dragon's blatant disregard at the fact Robin was sitting right there as well. Had the blind bastard no decency to not run about exposed with ladies present? Luckily the librarian continued on without seeming to notice or care.

It did nothing to calm his own raging swirl of mixed emotions that seemed to rise up in his gut. His dream flashed before his eyes once more and Sanji could feel the blood in his body unwantedly heat up and shift south without a care. He bit at his lip as he caught a flash of tanned skin, trying not to register it as the dragon's hip and perfect ass as he walked passed again, moving to sit on the bench that lined the wall. "No, I didn't lose the key Robin," he was saying and it took all the mental strength Sanji had to focus on the words spoken as he finally allowed himself to glance over to where he was sitting, mentally breathing out a sigh of relief at seeing the black pants back on his person. Especially with the way his legs were thrown wide apart and the almost empty bottle dangling from his fingers in front of his crotch. Oh what a delicious image that would make...

It wasn't going to have done anyone any good for him to sit here fidgeting as he tried to hide a hard on that was sure to pop up...oh man, his brain was doing it again...had the dragon not put clothes on. It was bad enough he was still trailing water along his chest and arms. The clear liquid dripping down his face from his hair and what Sanji wouldn't give to be able to lick it from his cheek.

Whoa now!

"You gonna answer her?" Zoro was looking right at him, eyebrow raised in question.

"What? Sorry." He thankfully turned from the dragon towards the historian as she repeated her question, clearing her throat as she did so. Her words were to the point and it felt to Sanji they pinned him to place where he sat. "No, my dear, I didn't touch anything. I didn't have the chance before I was almost crushed to death."

"You were not." Zoro played it off casually, raising the bottle to his lips and taking a swig. The small amount of liquid left glubbed about in the bottom. "Granted I did bare a bit more weight than needed, but you pissed yourself and passed out, so I went to find Perona. I could have left you there."

"Indeed." Sanji bristled at the man's comment, but didn't say anything as Robin threw a pointed glare at him instead. "You must learn to not scare the help Zoro."

"He's still here isn't he?" The dragon shot back with a small smirk and a snap tilt of his head.

"Guys! Dinner!" Usopp's voice rang through the garden, jarring the three of them from their conversation. "Robin! Sanji! Zoro?"

"Yeah!" The dragon called, turning his head to listen to where the gardener was. Merry bleated and there was a laugh from Usopp. "We're coming."


End file.
